After seven years of relative silence, purveyors of ska-pop nuttiness Madness are back with their 13th studio album, Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C'est La Vie. In a tumultuous period marked by polarization and fragmentation, the band found solace in a Cricklewood industrial unit, realizing that their unity surpassed any divisions that had arisen around the world. With Suggs, Mark, Chrissy Boy, Mike, Lee, and Woody rediscovering the unifying essence of being Madness, the result is an album that stands as their most harmonious recording experience to date. In a new move, Madness took the reins of production for the first time, with engineer and mixer Matt Glasbey (Ed Sheeran, Maisie Peters, Rag'n'Bone Man), and came out the other side with an album that reflects both the timeless brilliance of the band and the quirks of the early years that birthed it.

With 14 songs carefully selected from a bumper crop of tunes, Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C'est La Vie delivers ineffably catchy pop excellence. Highlights include drummer Woody's bittersweet carousel, "Round We Go," and Chrissy-Boy's anarchic anthem of perhaps-justified paranoia, "Run For Your Life." The bookending compositions by Suggs showcase the depth of the band's songwriting. Adding a unique touch to the album is a special prologue provided by Emmy and BAFTA award winner Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, Black Panther, The Operative), a long-time fan who formed a connection with the band after a chance encounter in a meet-and-greet queue.

Madness, reflecting on the recording process, shared, "Well, well, well, here we are... Our thirteenth album, Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C'est La Vie, is ready for your ears. For us, recording it was the perfect antidote to the chaos of the past few years - we were all there, properly in the zone. It was just us, in an industrial unit in Cricklewood, playing together. We loved it!"