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Progressive art-rock innovators The Pineapple Thief are entering a new chapter with the announcement of their forthcoming studio album, Far and Wide, set for release October 9, 2026, via InsideOutMusic.
Alongside the album announcement, the band have unveiled the hard-hitting new single ‘New World Order,’ accompanied by a striking music video created by longtime collaborator George Laycock of Black Tide Productions.
While The Pineapple Thief have spent more than two decades building a reputation around atmospheric textures, intricate progressive arrangements, and emotionally charged songwriting, Far and Wide promises to capture the band in a particularly direct and forceful form.
The group describe the new record as the sound of a band that, despite having dreamlike complexity readily available at their fingertips, deliberately chose to channel that musical vocabulary into harder-hitting, more incisive songs.
And that approach begins with something surprisingly simple: restraint.
“We realised, for instance, that you don’t need more than two guitar parts at any one time,” explains frontman and founder Bruce Soord. “You know, ‘why have we got four or five guitars? Why have we got six-part harmonies when there’s only three of us singing?’ We deliberately created those constraints, because we thought, ‘we’re a rock band, there’s five of us on stage, this is what we should be about in the studio.’”
Rather than distancing themselves from their progressive identity, The Pineapple Thief appear to be embracing another side of it. After years of developing an expansive musical vocabulary, Far and Wide finds the band concentrating those abilities rather than layering arrangements simply because they can.
It is a philosophy that also reflects the band’s growth as a live act.
Founded in 1999 by Soord, The Pineapple Thief have become one of progressive music’s most successful and accomplished acts, releasing 16 studio albums and touring extensively around the world. The current lineup features Soord on vocals and guitars alongside Jon Sykes on bass, Steve Kitch on keyboards, and Gavin Harrison on drums.
Harrison’s presence has been particularly significant. The acclaimed drummer joined The Pineapple Thief a decade ago, and Far and Wide marks the latest stage in a musical partnership that has now stretched across seven albums.
For Harrison, the experience of performing these songs—and imagining how they will translate to an audience—has become part of the creative process itself.
“You do start to imagine what a song would look like on a stage, and sometimes that does influence the arrangement,” Harrison explains. “Like, ‘this would be amazing live when we do this, if this section just went into this other thing’, and you can picture it with the lights and the atmosphere on stage.”
That emphasis on the live experience feels particularly appropriate for a band whose music has always relied heavily on atmosphere. The Pineapple Thief’s progressive sensibilities have never been solely about technicality; their songs are defined just as much by tension, space, dynamics, and emotional weight.
With Far and Wide, those qualities appear to be meeting a more muscular rock foundation.
The album also continues the band’s tradition of looking outward at the world around them while simultaneously examining deeply personal experiences. Its songs explore vignettes of a society in turmoil, moral courage in the face of adversity, and the lasting ripples of personal loss.
Those themes build upon the groundwork established on 2024’s It Leads To This, an album that found The Pineapple Thief contemplating what the next generation would inherit. Far and Wide appears to continue that conversation while turning an even sharper eye toward the turbulence and uncertainty of the present.
The album’s first single, ‘New World Order,’ provides the first major glimpse into that world. Hard-hitting and incisive, the track immediately reinforces the band’s promise that Far and Wide will be a record where atmosphere and progressive sophistication meet the visceral impact of a rock band.
Laycock’s accompanying video further emphasizes the song’s darker and more confrontational character, continuing a creative relationship between the filmmaker and band.
An Extensive Release
Far and Wide will arrive in several physical and digital formats, offering fans an extensive presentation of the new material.
A limited-edition 2CD and Blu-ray artbook will include the bonus track ‘Daylight,’ a second CD featuring instrumental versions of the album, and a Blu-ray containing Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD 5.1 Surround Sound, and 24/48 stereo mixes.
The album will also be available as a Special Edition CD Digipak, a Gatefold LP in multiple colour variants, and digitally in both stereo and Dolby Atmos formats.
Adding another personal dimension to the album’s presentation is its artwork. All formats feature an abstract sculpture created by the late Michael Schoenholtz, father of Harrison’s longtime partner, Hannah.
The striking artwork provides an appropriately evocative visual identity for an album concerned with complexity, uncertainty, society, and the human experience.
The Pineapple Thief Head to North America
The release of Far and Wide will be followed by a major headline North American tour in late 2026, giving audiences across the United States and Canada their opportunity to experience the new material in a live setting.
The tour opens November 17 in Washington, D.C., and will make stops throughout the East Coast, Canada, Midwest, South, and West Coast before concluding December 13 in Vancouver.
The complete North American itinerary is:
November 17 — Washington, DC — Howard Theater
November 19 — Philadelphia, PA — Theatre of Living Arts
November 20 — New York City, NY — Gramercy Theatre
November 21 — Somerville, MA — Somerville Theater
November 22 — Quebec City, QC — Capitole
November 24 — Montreal, QC — Beanfield Theatre
November 25 — Toronto, ON — Danforth Music Hall
November 27 — Chicago, IL — House of Blues
November 28 — Cleveland, OH — House of Blues
November 29 — St. Louis, MO — Delmar Hall
December 1 — Dallas, TX — The Bomb Factory
December 3 — Denver, CO — Summit
December 5 — Phoenix, AZ — Crescent Ballroom
December 6 — San Diego, CA — The Observatory North Park
December 8 — Los Angeles, CA — The Bellwether
December 9 — San Francisco, CA — August Hall
December 11 — Seattle, WA — Neptune Theater
December 12 — Portland, OR — Revolution Hall
December 13 — Vancouver, BC — Hollywood Theater
For a band now 27 years into its career, Far and Wide arrives at an intriguing point in The Pineapple Thief’s evolution. With 16 studio albums behind them, countless miles on the road, a decade of Gavin Harrison’s presence, and a new partnership with InsideOutMusic, the band have plenty of history to draw upon—but their approach to this record suggests little interest in simply repeating it.
Instead, they have taken the complexity they have spent years mastering and deliberately focused it.
Five musicians on stage. Fewer layers in the studio. Bigger emphasis on the impact of the song.
Still progressive. Still atmospheric. But perhaps more than ever, The Pineapple Thief sound like a rock band.
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