You know what’s a long time between albums? Twenty-four years. Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since the last Everything but the Girl album, Temperamental, was released, in 1999. Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt formally announced the dissolution of the band that year, but the duo hardly went their separate ways. A couple since the early nineteen-eighties, Thorn and Watt were new parents at the time of that album’s release and officially tied the knot in 2008. They stayed plenty busy with other endeavors — among other things, Thorn has written several memoirs over the years — but the act where they made their names remained dormant. There was occasional idle talk about reviving Everything but the Girl, but they both seemed plenty satisfied without it, too.

It was almost startling, then, when they announced late in 2022 that a new album was forthcoming. This week brought “Nothing Left to Lose,” the album’s first single. It’s instantly recognizable as Everything but the Girl, but it also doesn’t sound dated in any way. Without sacrificing a bit of their collective creative voice or chasing trends, the cut comes across as fresh and modern. Even better, it’s downright exquisite.

Fuse, the new album from Everything but the Girl, is scheduled for release in April.