Pulp debuted six new songs last week, playing live at an obscure arts festival in Venice, Italy.
The band slipped in the new tracks during their gig at a private view of an exhibition by British artist Gary Hume at the British Pavilion as part of the Venice Biennale celebrations.
A spokesman for Pulp told NME: “They were obviously keen to do these songs out of the full glare of everyone. They must be fairly complete if they’re playing them live and they just wanted to hear what they sounded like out.”
He added that the band had been working hard on finishing their new album, although a release date had not yet been set.
Meanwhile, Jarvis Cocker has made his advertising debut as a cartoon character in a new NatWest Bank commercial.
In the ad, which is currently being screened, a stylised depiction of the star is shown dancing in the street, before being chased by paparazzi and then making his escape in a black cab.
Jarvis gave permission for the bank to use his animated image in the quirky ad – but is not so happy about a character that looks suspiciously like him being used by Eurostar for its current poster campaign.
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Jarvis‘ spokesman said: “Jarvis has never done any adverts before the NatWest one, although I suppose he hasn’t even really done anything for that one.
“But he’s certainly had nothing to do with the Eurostar advert and he will be giving it a very close look. “
A spokesperson at Eurostar said: “You’re right, it does look like him. But it’s just coincidence.”