Everything But the Girl’s unexpected return to the stage last year has led Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt somewhere they haven’t been in years: back to guitars, close harmonies and the direct, unadorned songwriting that defined the influential British duo’s earliest work.

Their 11th studio album, Blue Reservoir, arrives Feb. 19 via Buzzin’ Fly/Virgin Music Group. First single “Young and Dumb” is out now, accompanied by a video directed by Edward Bishop from a treatment by Thorn and Watt.

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The 10-song set follows 2023’s Fuse, which reunited the duo after a 24-year gap between studio albums and found them exploring sleek, shadowy electronica. This time, the catalyst was a series of sold-out 2025 performances at London’s 300-capacity MOTH Club, their first live shows together in more than two decades. The residency drew thousands of hopeful fans to its waiting list and reminded Thorn and Watt of the immediacy of their early work.

“There was an intensity and simplicity to the MOTH shows that took us back to how we started out,” Thorn says. “Direct, rooted in guitar and voice, a few extra colors. We hadn’t been in that world for a long time and it just felt fresh and real.”

Inspired by the shows, Watt bought a Spanish nylon-string guitar in January 2026, finding renewed inspiration in an instrument he had long admired but never owned. “It is the sound of so much of the music I first connected with growing up, and I’d never actually owned one,” he says. “It became quite an emotional springboard for me. I found a voice I thought I’d lost.”

The songs arrived in a burst of creativity during the first weeks of this year, with nine written on guitar and one on piano. Watt and Thorn recorded much of the album live at London’s RAK Studios over 10 days in July, joined by longtime collaborators Rex Horan on double bass and Evan Jenkins on drums, as well as Brazilian percussionist Babo Moreno. Their son, Blake Watt, who performs as Family Stereo and is signed to Bella Union, guests on two tracks.

Everything But the Girl was back at MOTH Club for three shows earlier this week and will return there Dec. 13-15. Two shows at the larger, 900-capacity Union Chapel are set for Nov. 29-30.

Here is the track list for Blue Reservoir:

1) Forward
2) Scala
3) Young and Dumb
4) Do What You Can
5) Christmas Gone
6) Courage Mon Brave
7) The Round and Round
8) Fork in the Road
9) Good Hope
10) The Great Unknown

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