Century is the first single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 to be taken from The Long Blondes

The Long Blondes

The Long Blondes were a five-piece English indie rock band formed in Sheffield, United Kingdom in 2003 by Dorian Cox , Reenie Hollis , Emma Chaplin , Kate Jackson and Screech Louder .After several critically...

 second album "Couples". It was released on March 24, 2008, as a limited edition 7" single and digital download.

The b-side to "Century", "The Unbearable Lightness of Buildings", was written specifically for Tate Modern

Tate Modern

Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group . It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year...

 as part of their 12-week long Tate Tracks that was held at the beginning of April 2007. The idea was Tate invited The Long Blondes to walk around the gallery and find a work of art that would inspire them to write a track. In the end, it was Jannis Kounellis

Jannis Kounellis

Jannis Kounellis was born on March 23, 1936 in Piraeus, Greece. He studied in art college in Athens until 1956 and at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome....

's Untitled that grabbed their attention. They said "Untitled caught our eye because we saw the stark industrial landscape and pictured ourselves within it".

Track listing

A: "Century"

B: "The Unbearable Lightness of Buildings"

All lyrics written by Kate Jackson and Dorian Cox, music by The Long Blondes.