Last year, Smiths bassist Andy Rourke passed away at age 59. His most recent project had been Blitz Vega, a band he formed with Kav Sandhu back in 2016; their first single, “Hey Christo,” came out in 2019. In 2022, Rourke teamed up with former Smiths bandmate Johnny Marr on-record for the first time in 35 years on the Blitz Vega song “Strong Forever.”

Today, on what would have been Rourke’s 60th birthday, Kav Sandhu has announced Blitz Vega’s debut album, which is called Northern Gentleman and will be released on April 26. “I miss him so much,” Sandhu said in a press release. “He was one of my greatest friends and the best musician and bandmate. He was so humble.”

“He made me promise him we would release this album no matter what and go out to play it live,” Sandhu continued. “It’s difficult, but we owe him that as it’s what he really wanted. This was his band, his ideas, his songs. We are committed to celebrating his music and letting people listen to the music he was making right until he passed. He was so excited for people to hear it.”

Northern Gentleman will be released on 4/26 via FutureSonic Records/CEN/The Orchard.