David Gray today confirms release details for a new album Gold In A Brass Age – his first album of new material in four years – alongside a seventeen-date tour of the UK for 2019. The album will be available on March 8 through IHT Records / AWAL Recordings, with first single ‘The Sapling’ out today. Produced by Ben DeVries, son of producer and soundtrack composer Marius, Gold In A Brass Age finds Gray in renewed creative form. The album arrives just ahead of a run of headline shows including London, England’s prestigious Royal Festival Hall on Sunday, March 17th. North American tour dates begin in May and include stops in Toronto and Vancouver. Stream ‘The Sapling’ here. Watch the lyric video for The Sapling on YouTube here.
Gold In A Brass Age is defined by an intuitive approach from Gray, exploring new electronic textures and sound palettes, along with new production techniques in the process. Using a cut and paste approach to the arrangement of songs, the album’s atmospheric and experimental undertones are evident throughout. The album’s title is drawn from Raymond Carver’s short story Blackbird Pie, and informed by the regenerative cut and thrust of Gray’s adopted home of London and a fascination with the natural world which has long since consumed his time outside of music. The album’s striking artwork – for which Gray sought out Peckham-based tattoo artist London Boy – depicts an Emperor moth with the City of London captured between its wingspan.
Speaking about the creation of Gold In A Brass Age, Gray says; “With this album, my default position was to do everything differently. I didn’t think ‘this would be a good hook or ‘these lyrics could work for a chorus’. I was keen to get away from narrative. Instead of writing melodies, I looked for phrases with a natural cadence, so that the rhythm began with the words. I reimagined where a song might spring from and what form it could take.”
Written in breaks between several month-long tour stints – which included a US co-headline run of shows with Alison Krauss – Gold In A Brass Age sees Gray’s unmistakable vocal hushed in many places to an intimate falsetto, to compelling effect. Hypnotic lead single & album-opener ‘The Sapling’ bears out the nuanced approach in spades, with Gray’s rumination on the brevity of life tempered by layered vocals and a brass section including cor anglais and baritone sax. “Time ticking by is a theme that recurs throughout the record’ says Gray. “Fragility, renewal, a changing of perspective.”
Gold In A Brass Age will be David Gray’s eleventh album in a career that spans over 25 years, several Brit and Grammy nominations, and three No.1 UK albums, including for the breakout multi-platinum White Ladder. It is also a vital new collection of songs from an artist still revelling in his passion for song-craft, pushing himself into unfamiliar terrain, surprising himself as much as his fans along the way.
TOUR DATES
MARCH 15, 2019 / ST DAVID’S HALL CARDIFF, UNITED KINGDOM
MARCH 16, 2019 / CORN EXCHANGE CAMBRIDGE, UNITED KINGDOM
MARCH 17, 2019 / ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
MARCH 19, 2019 / DOME BRIGHTON, UNITED KINGDOM
MARCH 20, 2019 / CLIFFS PAVILION. SOUTHEND, UNITED KINGDOM
MARCH 22, 2019 / BRIDGEWATER HALL, MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM
MARCH 23, 2019 / ROYAL CONCERT HALL, NOTTINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM
MARCH 24, 2019 / SAGE GATESHEAD, GATESHEAD, UNITED KINGDOM
MARCH 26, 2019 / PHILHARMONIC HALL. LIVERPOOL, UNITED KINGDOM
MARCH 27, 2019 / PAVILION THEATRE, BOURNEMOUTH, UNITED KINGDOM
MARCH 29, 2019 / SYMPHONY HALL, BIRMINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM
MARCH 30, 2019 / BARBICAN CENTRE, YORK, UNITED KINGDOM
MARCH 31, 2019 / GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL. GLASGOW, UNITED KINGDOM
APRIL 02, 2019 / WATERFRONT HALL. BELFAST, IRELAND
APRIL 04, 2019 / ROYAL THEATRE, CASTLEBAR, IRELAND
APRIL 05, 2019 / BORD GÁIS ENERGY THEATRE, DUBLIN, IRELAND
APRIL 22, 2019 / BLUESFEST, BYRON BAY, AUSTRALIA
APRIL 30, 2019 / TIVOLIVREDENBURG – GROTE ZAAL, UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS
MAY 01, 2019 / RBB SENDESAAL, BERLIN, GERMANY
MAY 02, 2019 / DE ROMA, ANTWERP, BELGIUM
MAY 04, 2019 / CARLSWERK VICTORIA, COLOGNE, GERMANY
MAY 06, 2019 / STORE VEGA, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
MAY 07, 2019 / SENTRUM SCENE, OSLO, NORWAY
MAY 08, 2019 / CIRKUS, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
MAY 24, 2019 / REVENTION MUSIC CENTER, HOUSTON , UNITED STATES
MAY 25, 2019 / MOODY THEATER, AUSTIN, UNITED STATES
MAY 26, 2019 / VERIZON THEATRE AT GRAND PRAIRIE, GRAND PRAIRIE, UNITED STATES
MAY 28, 2019 / COCA-COLA ROXY, ATLANTA, UNITED STATES
MAY 30, 2019 / THE ANTHEM, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES
MAY 31, 2019 / THE MET, PHILADELPHIA, UNITED STATES
JUNE 01, 2019 / CITI WANG THEATRE. BOSTON, UNITED STATES
JUNE 04, 2019 / BEACON THEATRE, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
JUNE 07, 2019 / SONY CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, TORONTO, CANADA
JUNE 08, 2019 / AKRON CIVIC THEATRE, AKRON, UNITED STATES
JUNE 09, 2019 / PALACE THEATRE, LOUISVILLE, UNITED STATES
JUNE 11, 2019 / MURAT THEATRE AT OLD NATIONAL, INDIANAPOLIS, UNITED STATES
JUNE 13, 2019 / CHICAGO THEATRE, CHICAGO, UNITED STATES
JUNE 14, 2019 / RIVERSIDE THEATER, MILWAUKEE, UNITED STATES
JUNE 15, 2019 / STATE THEATRE, MINNEAPOLIS, UNITED STATES
JUNE 17, 2019 / ELLIE CAULKIN OPERA HOUSE. DENVER, UNITED STATES
JUNE 18, 2019 / DELTA HALL AT ECCLES THEATER. SALT LAKE CITY, UNITED STATES
JUNE 20, 2019 / KELLER AUDITORIUM. PORTLAND, UNITED STATES
JUNE 21, 2019 / THE CENTRE IN VANCOUVER FOR PERFORMING ARTS, VANCOUVER, CANADA
JUNE 22, 2019 / MCCAW HALL. SEATTLE, UNITED STATES
JUNE 24, 2019 / CREST THEATRE SACRAMENTO, SACRAMENTO, UNITED STATES
JUNE 25, 2019 / FOX THEATER. OAKLAND, UNITED STATES
JUNE 28, 2019 / ORPHEUM THEATRE, LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES
JUNE 30, 2019 / COPLEY SYMPHONY HALL. SAN DIEGO, UNITED STATES
