Master songwriter Boo Hewerdine returns with another new release hot on the heels of his recent “Selected Works” collection. “Singularities” (Reveal Records, November 5th), features six exclusive new recordings made in collaboration with other artists, including Jenny Sturgeon, Vlado Nosal and Brian Johnson.
Over the last decade, Hewerdine has been producing and collaborating with many young artists, taking musical risks and focusing on the minute details of life through his own new songs. The much-loved musician recently moved up from Ely to Glasgow (home to several of his long term musical collaborators, including Eddi Reader and Kris Drever). Boo continues to write poignant lyrics about the details of life and things that resonate with listeners around the world, and he’s already close to finishing another full album worth of solo songs for release in 2022.
Meanwhile, we have “Singularities” to enjoy, about which Boo says:
“During lockdown, I started some wonderful songwriting relationships. This release celebrates three of these. Songs written and recorded remotely. We would meet once a week, and the songs would come. Although I’ve missed playing live, I have rediscovered the joy of what I love doing the most.
“I met Vlado Nosal when he came to see me play at a rather modest engagement in a Croydon pub. Five years later he contacted me, during lockdown, with a view to me being a mentor. It became apparent almost at once that there was nothing I could show him. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy writing with him. We meet once a week regardless. Twice, when his wifi has been misbehaving he has driven around Bratislava till he could join a public wifi and sung in the back of his car. He is the singer in wonderful Slovakian band called Queer Jane. Although less than half my age we have an almost telepathic understanding. When we work together we like to imagine we are in a band called Hotel Art. We like to write about hum-drum aspects of modern life and try and find some beauty there. Brian Johnson was meeting me regularly to talk about songs. Over time we came up with the idea of writing a set of songs about Vivian Maier the legendary street photographer. We worked from his beautifully evocative lyrics and I really enjoy the freedom to explore melodic and stylistic ideas outside of my comfort zone. Like all this music the recordings were started at home. My old friend Gustaf Ljunggren came up with the perfect horn arrangement, Chris Pepper added drums and mixed The Night Is Young. I have really taken to this way of working. Frozen Light And Time is my bedroom demo and will have to do until we can afford an orchestra.Jenny Sturgeon came on one of my songwriting workshops at Moniack Mhor. She is one of my favourite singers. Her album The Living Mountain is a thing of genuine beauty. I’m in Glasgow and she is in Shetland. The urban and the sea. We enjoy exploring a place where folk and electronica meet. I hope one day we record an album and if we do we will call ourselves Silence. No Words is one of my favourite songs I’ve had a part in. We decided that we had nothing to write about that day. So we wrote about that.”
Listen to the opening track British Summer Time below:
Singularities Tracklisting
- British Summer Time (Boo Hewerdine & Vlado Nosal)
- Hotel Art (Boo Hewerdine & Vlado Nosal)
- The Night Is Young (Boo Hewerdine & Brian Johnson)
- Frozen Light and Time (Boo Hewerdine & Brian Johnson)
- Lines (Boo Hewerdine & Jenny Sturgeon)
- No Words (Boo Hewerdine & Jenny Sturgeon)
Boo Hewerdine ‘Singularities’ is released on November 5th 2021, via Reveal Records.
Limited Edition CD + Signed Print – Reveal180CDX (available from Bandcamp) – https://boohewerdineandthebible.bandcamp.com/album/singularities-2021
Photo Credit: Mark Freegard