The recordings took place between 2019 and 2021. Most of it, though, Molko says, was done before the pandemic hit in early 2020: "We had a lot planned, and then what happened happened, so now everything is delayed by about two years. I know it was frustrating for the fans. It was certainly very frustrating for us as well, the never-ending wait for new music, but at least it was there. We knew we had it," the singer said.Thirteen songs eventually made it onto Never Let Me Go. The band released two of them back in 2021: "Beautiful James" came out on September 16, "Surrounded By Spies" on November 9.The latter is about being spied on, about the "erosion of civil liberties". Molko on songwriting: "I used the cut-up technique invented by William S. Burroughs and popularized by David Bowie in a modern song. It's a true story told through the lens of paranoia, disgust with the values of modern society, and idolization of surveillance capitalism. The narrator is at the end of his rope, hopeless and terrified, at complete odds with our newfound progress and the god of money."