Mesh present new video single ‘Hey Stranger’ from upcoming album ‘The Truth Doesn’t Matter’
Mesh
British electronic alternative duo Mesh unveil the new video single “Hey Stranger” as the latest preview from their forthcoming studio album “The Truth Doesn’t Matter“, scheduled for release on March 27, 2026 via Dependent Records. The track appears as song thirteen on the 16-track album and follows January’s advance single “Exile”. The video was directed by Kieran Gallop (GLK Media) with Mike Evans and Madeline Griffin in the lead acting roles.
Thematically “Hey Stranger” focuses on change, distance and communication breakdown. Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Richard Silverthorn says that the track went through multiple arrangements before taking its final form. “A song might take on many different forms before its eventual album version as ‘Hey Stranger’ definitely has done”, he says. “The track starts in a very minimalistic way and gradually builds up towards its climax through a crescendo of choir and strings. Lyrically, this song is bound to speak to many as it explores themes of change and disconnection with people.”
Vocalist and lyricist Mark Hockings adds that the composition was initially not intended as a main single. “I wrote ‘Hey Stranger’ several years ago and the song has gone through several iterations over time”, he says. “We were originally looking at this track as just a fall-back or B-side. Some lyrical additions and a fresh look at the arrangement later, ‘Hey Stranger’ had transformed it into something much more. I am not in favour of dwelling on a single song over long periods of time, but in this case our unusual patience has paid off well – at least in my mind.”
The track also features as part of the bonus material in the “The Full Truth” companion disc, with at least two alternate versions (“Hey Stranger” radio version and “Hey Stranger” straight mix).
Below is the previous single “Exile“.
Table of contents
Mesh album ‘The Truth Doesn’t Matter’: formats and full tracklist
All tracks of the new album were written and recorded by Mark Hockings and Richard Silverthorn at Mesh HQ and The Summerhouse in Bristol, UK. Mixing took place at Cottonbeat Studio in Burscheid, Germany, with producer Olaf Wollschläger working alongside the band, and mastering handled by Mesh with additional mastering by Wollschläger.
Guest vocalist Mari Kattman contributes additional vocals to “Bury Me Again” elsewhere on the album and is scheduled to appear at selected dates of the 2026 tour line-up.
“The Truth Doesn’t Matter” marks their eighth studio album and the second full-length in collaboration with Dependent since “Looking Skyward“.
The album contains sixteen tracks:
- “The Truth Doesn’t Matter”
- “A Storm Is Coming”
- “I Lost a Friend Today”
- “Polygraph”
- “Trying to Save You”
- “Bury Me Again”
- “I Bleed through You”
- “Kill Us with Silence”
- “1031030”
- “This World”
- “Exile”
- “Everything as It Should Be”
- “Hey Stranger”
- “Cipher”
- “Not Everyone Is Lonely”
- “Be Kind”
Confirmed physical formats include:
- A 48-page hardcover 2CD artbook including the exclusive 9-track bonus CD “The Full Truth”.
- A gatefold black vinyl 2-LP edition of the main album.
- A standard jewelcase CD edition.
- A limited complete boxset (500 copies) combining the double vinyl album, an exclusive vinyl version of the bonus material, the full artbook and additional items, accompanied by a hand-numbered certificate signed by Mesh. This boxset is already marked as sold out in label communications.
Mesh 2026 ‘The Truth Doesn’t Matter’ tour
Mesh will support the album with an extensive European and UK tour in 2026 under the same title. The first leg in April covers Germany and the Czech Republic, with shows in Oberhausen, Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig, Prague, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne and Hannover. The band then move to the UK in May for concerts in Bristol, London and Sheffield, followed by Scandinavian dates in Malmö, Gothenburg and Copenhagen, a summer open-air appearance in Taunton, and an additional date in Liberec in November.
- 02 APR 2026 Oberhausen (DE) Kulttempel
- 03 APR 2026 Berlin (DE) Huxleys
- 04 APR 2026 Hamburg (DE) Docks
- 05 APR 2026 Leipzig (DE) Felsenkeller
- 06 APR 2026 Praha (CZ) Lucerna Music Bar
- 08 APR 2026 München (DE) Backstage
- 09 APR 2026 Frankfurt (DE) Batschkapp
- 10 APR 2026 Köln (DE) Carlswerk Victoria
- 11 APR 2026 Hannover (DE) Pavillon
- 01 MAY 2026 Bristol (UK) Trinity
- 02 MAY 2026 London (UK) 229 Club
- 03 MAY 2026 Sheffield (UK Corporation
- 14 MAY 2026 Malmö (SE) Plan B
- 15 MAY 2026 Göteborg (SE) Musikens Hus
- 16 MAY 2026 København (DK) Viften
- 30 AUG 2026 Taunton (UK) Vivary Park Open Air, Electric Summer +Howard Jones
- 11 NOV 2026 Liberec (CZ) Dům kultury
About Mesh
Mesh are a British electronic alternative duo from Bristol, England, formed in 1991 by vocalist and guitarist Mark Hockings and keyboardist, guitarist and backing vocalist Richard Silverthorn, with Neil Taylor joining on keyboards in the early years. The creative split developed early: Silverthorn composes most of the music, while Hockings writes the lyrics and handles lead vocals. The trio first signed to Swedish label Memento Materia and issued the EP “Fragile” in 1994, followed by the debut album “In This Place Forever” in 1996 and the compilation “Fragmente” in 1998, which gathered early material.
Their second full-length “The Point at Which It Falls Apart” arrived in 1999 and has recently been revisited as a 25th-anniversary hardcover artbook edition. In 2000, the band worked with German producer Mark ’Oh on the single “Waves”, which entered the German charts, before moving to Sony for “Who Watches Over Me?” in 2002.
A run of albums on Dependent Records followed: “We Collide” in 2006, co-produced with Gareth Jones; “A Perfect Solution” in 2009, later reworked as the 2011 remix album “An Alternative Solution”; “Automation Baby” in 2013; and “Looking Skyward” in 2016.
Mesh have also released live recordings such as “On This Tour Forever”, the orchestral-enhanced “Live at Neues Gewandhaus Leipzig”, and the “Touring Skyward – A Tour Movie” set.
Frontman Mark Hockings would later on launch the Blackcarburning project releasing the debut album “Watching Sleepers“.
Today Mesh operate primarily as the Hockings/Silverthorn duo in the studio while expanding to a four-piece live line-up with drummer Sean Suleman and live keyboardist and backing vocalist Vaughn George for concerts and tours.
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