Westlife pay homage to Celtic music on new album ‘Spectrum’.
Mark Feehily – who is joined by Shane Filan, Kian Egan an Nicky Byrne in the Irish band – has revealed one of the tracks on their first record since 2010’s ‘Gravity’ has a "Celtic fusion side to it" and he compared it to his solo track ‘Sanctuary’ from his 2015 LP ‘Fire’.
He told OfficialCharts.com: "One of them is just a very cool tip of the hat to Celtic music.
"It’s very contemporary but it’s got a Celtic fusion side to it.
"I had a song on my album called ‘Sanctuary’ which sampled Clannad but it had more a pop/hip-hop beat to it. It’s kind of in the same world as that. It’s cool, edgy and contemporary."
Mark recently revealed Ed Sheeran has written half of their new record.
As well as the lead single ‘Hello My Love’, the 28-year-old pop megastar also worked with producer Steve Mac on five of the other tracks on ‘Spectrum’.
Mark said: "He’s done six songs for the album.
"So effectively half the album.
"One day Ed went in the studio and said ‘I just want to write Westlife songs’. It’s been a truly organic coupling."
The ‘What About Now’ hitmakers’ new studio album is set to be released on September 6, and they think the LP’s title perfectly sums up their newfound energy.
The group recently said: "The title ‘Spectrum’ came from us talking about how we feel younger, happier and more energetic than we ever have in our career.
"’Spectrum’ is a title that represents the various different shades and colours of our personalities, vocals and general perspectives that all blend together in a unique way to create Westlife.
"It’s also a word that represents the various shades and colours in the band, meaning it’s the perfect metaphor for our different points of view and perspectives but together, they somehow join to work perfectly."
The band have also teamed up with James Bay for a collaboration on the album.
And they feel the LP displays "the very best version of Westlife possible".
They added: "We’re all driven by trying to create the best album of our careers. Our fans deserve the very best version of Westlife possible and with this album we feel that we’ve achieved that.
"The album has everything that we love in music, heartfelt emotional songs and also great uptempo’s that are designed for our stadium performances.
"We couldn’t be happier with how the last few months in the studio have gone and we cannot wait for our fans to hear the end results."
Westlife pay homage to Celtic music on new album
