Noel Gallagher has unveiled his third solo album ‘Who Built The Moon?’.
The former Oasis guitarist has announced the full 11-song tracklisting of the LP – which again will be released under the High Flying Birds name – and revealed the record will drop on November 24. He will then head out on a world tour in 2018 which will kick off in Brighton on April 22.
Noel teamed up with David Holmes – who has remixed tracks for the likes of U2, Primal Scream and Ice Cube in the past and is renowned for his movie soundtrack work on films such as ‘Ocean’s Eleven and ‘Logan Lucky’ – for the follow-up to 2015’s ‘Chasing Yesterday’.
For the first time in his career, 50-year-old wrote every song in the studio and he was encouraged by David, 48, to vary his influences to include French psychedelic pop, classic electro, soul, rock, disco and dance.
The ‘Supersonic’ songwriter’s admits his psychedelic tracks are the result of being asked to, "stop playing guitar!" and to "play me a guitar solo you can dance to!?" by David.
Noel has recalled wanting to "strangle" the producer during the making of the song ‘The Man Who Built The Moon’, which he made him record so many retakes of, but in hindsight he admits the studio wizard was right to do so.
Noel explained: "We took a keyboard riff we liked from an unused track and added chords. A year later we came to deal with it as a song and when we got to the chorus, David kept asking me to write a new one … again and again and again. I was ready to strangle him. The one that you hear is the eighth attempt and, you know what? The annoying thing is he was right."
The album features a host of guest musicians and some famous faces.
Love song ‘Holy Mountain’ – which is one of Noel’s favourite pieces on the record – features his friend and former Jam frontman Paul Weller playing the organ.
Explaining how it came together, Noel said: "David played me the sample, so I worked out the chords and we demoed just a few, short minutes of it, taking it away on tour and playing with it. When it became a song back in Belfast it was so joyous, I just had to do it justice. What’s more joyous than being in love, baby? So, I wrote a song about love and it’s one of the best things that I’ve ever done."
Long-time pal and The Smiths legend Johnny Marr also makes an appearance playing the guitar and harmonica on ‘If Love Is The Law’.
It is the second time the pair have collaborated on one of Noel’s solo tunes, with Marr previously playing guitar on ‘Ballad of the Mighty I’ which features on ‘Chasing Yesterday’.
Marr, 53, also previously laid down riffs on Oasis’ 2002 fifth album ‘Heathen Chemistry’ featuring on three songs; ‘(Probably) All in the Mind’ penned by Noel and ‘Born on a Different Cloud’ and ‘Better Man’ which were written by his younger brother and former bandmate Liam Gallagher.
David is delighted with how rock legend Noel responded to his direction at his Belfast studio and thinks people are going to be blown away by the end result.
He said: "People are going to be surprised. I think people love Noel and they’re desperate for him to make a really big, bold, up-tempo beast of a record – a lot of Noel’s music is quite mid-tempo. This one is fun."
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ tour dates:
Sun 22 April 2018 Brighton, Brighton Centre
Tue 24 April 2018 Glasgow, The SSE Hydro
Wed 25 April 2018 Aberdeen, BHGE Arena
Fri 27 April 2018 London, The SSE Arena Wembley
Mon 30 April 2018 Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena
Tue 1 May 2018 Birmingham, Birmingham Arena
Thu 3 May 2018 Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena
Fri 4 May 2018 Manchester, Manchester Arena
Sun 6 May 2018 Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena
Mon 7 May 2018 Leeds, First Direct Arena
Wed 9 May 2018 Belfast, The SSE Arena
Thu 10 May 2018 Dublin, 3Arena
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ ‘Who Built The Moon?’ tracklisting:
1. ‘Fort Knox’
2. ‘Holy Mountain’
3. ‘Keep On Reaching’
4. ‘It’s A Beautiful World’
5. ‘She Taught Me How To Fly’
6. ‘Be Careful What You Wish For’
7. ‘Black & White Sunshine’
8. ‘Interlude (Wednesday Part 1)’
9. ‘If Love Is The Law’
10. ‘The Man Who Built The Moon’
11. ‘End Credits (Wednesday Part 2)’