Galway via London fourpiece The Clockworks continue to share new music ahead of their second record with new single ‘Magnificent Seven’ taken from their new album The Entertainment released on 27 March via V2 Records. They have also announced an Autumn 2026 headline tour with 18 dates across the UK and Europe.
With a cinematic sound, The Clockworks introduced themselves with debut album Exit Strategy in 2023 and their self-titled EP The Clockworks in 2022, gaining acclaim from the likes of BBC 6Music and BBC Radio 1. With a sonic palate that pulls from seemingly disparate regions of the musical landscape, namechecking Daft Punk next to Pixies, next to Ennio Morricone, they are also influenced through their passion for film and literature. Lyrically, singer and lyricist James McGregor writes with purpose, integrity and emotion, balancing light with darkness and finding poetic intrigue in everyday life. They will release their new album The Entertainment in March, which was largely written and recorded in isolation, and is a project that looks to isolation, loneliness and connection in its exploration of life in the modern world.
New single ‘Magnificent Seven’ is a fast-paced track with an intentional unnerving mood, building to a euphoric chorus of realisation. Self-produced by Sean Connelly, it is influenced by Western cinematography with a particular nod to the film of the same title. James from the band says:
“The musical bones of ‘Magnificent Seven’ came well before the album was started. To free ourselves from the patterns of the first album, we wrote loads of demos on Logic using only a midi keyboard, a Juno and a mic with loads of auto tune. Somehow the music for this song made it through that process and into the album.
Lyrically, I’d had this idea for ages of using the ‘Wild West’ as a metaphor for writing a song about technocracy in the modern West, using the criminals that control so much of our daily lives as cowboys. Then I overheard an economist refer to the biggest companies in tech as the ‘Magnificent Seven’. It was one of those ‘eureka’ moments, the comparison between these companies, and the characters in the film ‘The Magnificent Seven’. Not only the fact that it’s a Western and that they’re cowboys, but that the film is about the cowboys coming to save this village. It was exactly what we were looking for to tell this story.”
The Clockworks ended 2025 with a European tour with Johnny Marr, after previously performing at festivals such as Rock Werchter, Eurosonic and Electric Picnic. They have announced an 18-date Autumn UK & European headline tour, commencing in Leeds on 9 October and culminating in Paris on 8 November.
The Clockworks Live Dates
October
9 – Leeds – Brudenell Social Club
10 – Birmingham – Mama Roux’s
11 – Glasgow – Oran Mor
14 – Manchester – Academy 3
16 – London – Scala
25 – Prague – Cargo Gallery
26 – Munich – Kranhalle
27 – Warsaw – Hydrozagadka
28 – Neue Zukunft
29 – Copenhagen – Vega
31 – Aarhus – Voxhall
November
1 – Hamburg – Bahnhof Pauli
2 – Cologne – Bumann & Sohn
4 – Utrecht – Ekko
5 – Amsterdam – Tolhuistuin
6 – Luxembourg – De Gudde Wellen
7 – Brussels – Ancienne Belgique
8 – Paris – Petit Bain
For more information on The Clockworks please check their instagram and website.