Elvis Costello has announced a new album.
The 65-year-old legendary British musician unveiled new song ‘We Are All Cowards Now’ on Friday (14.08.20) and the LP ‘Hey Clockface’ will be released on October 30 by Concord Records.
The fresh track was proceeded by ‘No Flag’ and ‘Hetty O’Hara Confidential’.
The record is Costello’s 31st studio effort and it was recorded in Helsinki, Paris and New York City and mixed by Sebastian Krys in Los Angeles.
The three tracks released so far were laid down at Suomenlinnan Studio in Helsinki, Finland, by Eetu Seppala in February 2020 and Costello then immediately travelled to France for a weekend session at Les Studios Saint Germain working with producer Francois Delabriere.
Recalling the recording experience, he said: "I sang live on the studio floor, directing from the vocal booth. We cut nine songs in two days. We spoke very little. Almost everything the musicians played was a spontaneous response to the song I was singing. I’d had a dream of recording in Paris like this, one day. I wanted the record to be vivid, whether the songs demanded playing that was loud and jagged or intimate and beautiful."
Following his time in Paris, Costello then went to New York to finish the rest of the record.
Those sessions were produced by composer, arranger and trumpet player Michael Leonhart in collaboration with guitarists Bill Frisell and Nels Cline and completed, lyrically and vocally by Costello "via Electrical Wire".
Explaining the inspiration for working in so many different cities, the ‘Pump It Up’ hitmaker said: "I wanted to write ‘Helsinki-Paris-???’ on the record jacket like this was a perfume or an advertising agency. ‘London’ was a possibility for the third city but London is forever. We’ll be there again. Michael sent this music to me from New York at the perfect time. It connected to elements in both of the previous sessions and completed the picture."
Speaking of the emotional and dynamic range of the record, Costello added: "I wanted the record to be vivid, whether the songs demanded playing that was loud and jagged or intimate and beautiful."
‘Hey Clockface’ tracklist:
01. Revolution #49
02. No Flag
03. They’re Not Laughing At Me Now
04. Newspaper Pane
05. I Do (Zula’s Song)
06. We Are All Cowards Now
07. Hey Clockface / How Can You Face Me?
08. The Whirlwind
09. Hetty O’Hara Confidential
10. The Last Confession of Vivian Whip
11. What Is It That I Need That I Don’t Already Have?
12. Radio Is Everything
13. I Can’t Say Her Name
14. Byline