Pulp have played an intimate, stripped-back ‘Tiny Desk’ set, check it out below.
The ‘Tiny Desk’ series is hosted by NPR, and sees artists come together in an intimate live setting to perform a few of their tracks in a new-stripped back setting. It sees them gathered together at the NPR Music offices in Washington, D.C., and performing literally behind an unassuming office desk, surrounded by vinyl and books.
Huge names have been involved in the series over the years including Adele, Tyler, The Creator, Weezer, Turnstile, Taylor Swift, Anderson Paak. and more – and now Britpop icons Pulp have become the latest name to join the list.
Shared earlier this morning (Thursday November 13), the band are shows tightly-packed into the performance space, with keyboardist Candida Doyle stood in the foreground, frontman Jarvis Cocker right in the middle, and Nick Banks, and Mark Webber tucked towards the back.
They were joined by a handful of other session musicians, including two violinists who opened the set with an enchanting, isolated string section. Gradually, the instrumentals begin to build into classic track ‘This Is Hardcore’, from their 1998 album of the same name.
“Thank you, we’ll lighten the mood now a bit,” Cocker said after the first track, going into ‘Something Changed’. “This is a song about how your life can change in a matter of seconds, but you never know when it’s going to happen…”
In the second half of the set Pulp broke out ‘A Sunset’ – the last track from their new album ‘More’. Introducing the song, Cocker said: “It was mentioned that we did release a new record this year, so we’re going to play you one song off that. It’s the last song on the record, and it’s called ‘A Sunset’, or ‘Ah Sunset’, if you want… I prefer A.”
Closing out the set, the singer said: “Ok we’re going to try and squeeze one last song into this. Thank you very much for being here. I wish you a very happy acrylic afternoon,” segueing into the 1994 song ‘Acrylic Afternoons’, from the ‘His ‘n’ Hers’ album.
The Pulp ‘Tiny Desk’ setlist was:
‘This Is Hardcore’
‘Something Changed’
‘A Sunset’
‘Acrylic Afternoons’
‘More’ was shared over the summer, and was the first full-length LP from the Sheffield band in 24 years, as well as their first since the death of bassist Steve Mackey in 2023. The release saw them lock in a huge surprise set on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury this year, and shortlisted for the 2025 Mercury Prize.
As well as the ‘Tiny Desk’ set, Pulp recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of ‘Different Class’ by hosting an album playback and Q&A in London, and confirmed that they would be reissuing their classic 1995 album to mark the occasion too.
The band have also announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand for 2026 – buy tickets here.
It remains uncertain whether the band will keep releasing new music regularly following ‘More’. Cocker recently said that he could see it happening soon, but those comments differ from what Banks and Doyle told NME on the red carpet for the Mercury Prize last month.
There, the two expressed their joy at being shortlisted for the prestigious award again, having taken home the prize for their classic album ‘Different Class’ in 1996, but added that they were “not itching” to get back in the studio.
