25 February 2016

Richard Ashcroft discusses new album

Richard Ashcroft has got one of those solo album things to share, his fourth, and the first since 2006. Titled These People, it’ll be released by his own Righteous Phonographic Association in partnership with Cooking Vinyl on 20 May.

The album is produced by longtime collaborator Chris Potter, and reunites the Verve man with string arranger Wil Malone, with whom Ashcroft has worked several times before, most recently on his 2000 debut solo album Alone With Everybody.

Of the new album, Ashcroft says: “Some personal and world events take a darker turn, leading to a sense of urgency and clearing of the mind. My lane in the chaos becomes clearer. To be a modern day troubadour, to play a set of songs in front of 30,000 Mexicans all singing back with six strings and one voice – this influences the final stages of the new album”.

And as if that wasn't clear enough, he adds: “To do nothing would be a crime – this sick nihilistic age of war. The line has been drawn – who are these people?”