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May 20, 2016 Portishead By Christopher Roberts Photography by Jean-Baptiste Mondino

Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker has scored Likely Stories, a new TV series based on short stories by acclaimed author Neil Gaiman. Now the score has been released as the Likely Stories EP on 7-inch in the U.K. today. The EP will be released digitally on May 27 and as a 7-inch in the U.S. on June 3. Below you can stream “Theme From Likely Stories,” the instrumental opening titles music that also features Portishead’s Adrian Utley. Also below is the EP’s cover art. This marks Cocker’s first solo release since 2009 and his last solo album, Further Complications.

Likely Stories is set in London and blends fantasy and reality. There will be four half-hour episodes that will air in the U.K. on Sky Arts starting next Thursday, May 26. Cocker describes the series as “Four grubby tales set in all night cafes, low rent drinking dens, and doctor’s surgeries. I didn’t have to leave my comfort zone for this assignment.”

There’s no word on when it will premiere and if it will also air in the U.S. (and on which channel if it does). The episodes have been directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, who did the Nick Cave documentary 20,000 Days on Earth, and star George MacKay (Pride), Tom Hughes (The Game), Johnny Vegas (Moone Boy), Kenneth Cranham (Maleficent), and Rita Tushingham (Doctor Zhivago).

Gaiman will cameo in each episode and previously had this to say about the series: “Short stories traditionally do not get a lot of love from television. I’m really excited to see what the team are going to do and make with Likely Stories. They’ve given it real thought and it feels like it’s going to be something very, very special.”

Besides Utley, the following musicians also join Cocker on the EP: Alasdair Malloy (percussionist to Scott Walker), Serafina Steer, Sarah Anderson, Jenny Moore (collectively known as Bas Jan), Martin Slattery (The Hours, Black Grape), and drummer Tom Skinner (Melt Yourself Down).

A press release describes the tracklist as such:

SIDE 1

1: “Theme From Likely Stories” - a full-length version of the music heard over the opening titles of each episode. With a beat and a female choir.
2: “Foraging” - from the episode “Feeders & Eaters.” An inter-generational love affair goes too far. The lyrics list edible fungi found in the UK.

SIDE 2

1: “Looking For The Girl” - from the episode of the same name. An ageing photographer reveals the unlikely identity of his muse.
2: “Poor Babes In The Woods” - from the episode “Closing Time.” Friends gather in an after hours bar to swap “true” ghost stories. One tale - of an after-school encounter - leads to the unearthing of a dark secret.