Critical Thinking is the 15th album by Manic Street Preachers, a leading British rock band. Critical Thinking” is the 15th album by Manic Street Preachers, the band’s 15th album in three years since their last album “The Ultra Vivid Lament” debuted at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart. The first track, “Hiding in Plain Sight,” features bassist and songwriter Nicky Wyer on lead vocals, with London-based singer Lana McDonough also adding vocals. Produced by the band themselves, along with classic collaborators Dave Ellinga and Roz Williams, the album contrasts gorgeous, uplifting melodies inspired by 70s rock ‘n’ roll classics and the gentle flow of Dinosaur Jr.’s “Freak Scene”. Nicky Wyer says of his latest album.This is an album of conflicts where dialectics find their way to resolution. The songs are exuberant, melancholy and uplifting, but most of the lyrics deal with an objective analysis of the self. The songs are energetic and sometimes euphoric. Some recordings were done sporadically and in isolation, while others were done with a live band. Again, these are opposites that make sense. At the heart of these songs is a crisis. They are the epitome of skepticism and doubt, so it seems inevitable that we would be pulled inward. –If you start with yourself, the rest may follow.” James Dean Bradfield also commented in an interview with Mojo magazine, “Sometimes it’s enough to write the best songs. Even if it’s in context, without just putting out an album and trying to explain the whole grand concept,” he said. Conflicting ideas clash, and self-reflective lyrics are coupled with some of the most straightforward, addictive melodies in the band’s history, making this a supreme work of art.