- 2023-11-28
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MUSIC
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Ed Harcourt Announces New Album “El Magnifico”, Shares New Song “Strange Beauty”
British singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt has announced that his new album “El Magnifico” will be released on March 29, 2024 via his own label Deathless Recordings.
The album is his first body of work in four years since the 2020 album “Monochrome to Colour”.
From the album, he unveiled the first single called “Strange Beauty” on November 22, 2023.
The track was written and produced by Ed Harcourt. He recorded the song at his own Wolf Cabin studios, finishing touches were made alongside producer Dave Izumi Lynch at Eastbourne’s Echo Zoo Studio.
The accompanying music video was directed by Steve Gullick, who filmed with super 8 in Almeria in southern Spain.
Ed Harcourt said of the song, “A song that uses visceral imagery to convey that classic old feeling of love and the immense power it has. I think that even after being a reckless, naive romantic after all these years, I still want to describe how violently mad it can make one feel. It’s about escapism, there’s an us against the world aspect, not adhering to the confines of society I guess. The song was written a while back and then lurked in a drawer for a few years...then I gave it the kiss of life and it sprung back with magnificent vigour!”- The album comprises 12-track. Ed Harcourt said of the album, “I think as a songwriter you do get to a point where you’re aware of your past and what you’ve done. It’s knowing what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are, but also knowing how to better yourself by doing things you haven’t done before.”
He continued, “I find that I’m always learning. When I’m writing with someone else it’s always a total blank canvas so you have to be open to trying new things. It means with every record I do myself it’s got to have something different in it. Every album is always a reaction to the last thing I did. After the ‘Furnaces’, which was quite heavy and experimental, I felt it was time I went back to the source a bit. So maybe there is a sense here of drawing on what people perhaps know me for, but there is also a big step forward.”
He added, “One of the important things with the record for me is that it feels like a combination of everything that I’ve done, yet it’s also opened up so many new possibilities.” -
Photo by Steve Gullick - source : Apple Music
