New Teddy Thompson!



Teddy Thompson's new album sounds like it'll be better than his last country one... (yay!)

New Teddy Album

Teddy will release his new album in the US on June 17th, supported by 3 weeks of US shows that month. UK and European releases will be at the end of the summer and Teddy will be playing at Glastonbury Festival on June 28th and opening for Rufus Wainwright in London on July 5th.

A Piece of What You Need, his fourth album overall and his third for Verve — is the London-born, New York-based artist's most ambitious and accomplished effort to date, showcasing his formidable vocal, songwriting and guitar talents while venturing into rewarding new musical and lyrical territory.

Thompson's trademark blend of catchy songcraft, pensive emotional insight and good-natured black humor is present on such new tunes as "In My Arms," "What's This?!!," "Don't Know What I Was Thinking" and the bittersweetly fatalistic "Turning the Gun On Myself." The album's effortless pop sensibility is matched by a playful sonic palette that incorporates such aural surprises as the careening brass band on "Can't Sing Straight" and "One of These Days," or the Hitchcockian orchestral rushes that haunt the cinematic "Jonathan's Book."

Although Thompson co-produced his last two albums Separate Ways and Up Close & Down Low, for A Piece of What You Need he made it a point to recruit an outside producer to help realize his expansive musical agenda. The man for the job was Marius de Vries, whose extensive production resume includes work with acts as diverse as Bjork, Madonna, David Gray and Rufus Wainwright.

"I knew that I wanted this one to be more adventurous, with strong, solid rhythm tracks and beautiful airy touches to support the songs," Thompson explains, adding, "Marius gets all the credit for that. He's taken the arrangements up a notch. There was nothing off-limits, nothing that was too weird or too difficult. I could tell him that I wanted something to sound like fairies dancing around a maypole, and he'd know what button to push to get that. We were able to add a lot more layers, without overshadowing the songs themselves."

A Piece of What You Need is a landmark for an artist whose creative restlessness continues to yield deeply compelling musical results. Thompson's sense of purpose — and sense of humor — are reflected in the song title that provides the album's name.

"The song was born from frustration with the state of music," he explains. "I liked it as an album title because I thought it sounded like an offering, like this record is a small bit of truth. For most people, it's gonna be an absolutely miniscule piece of what they need. But I'd like to think that I'm contributing some tiny little building block of something worthwhile, rather than just adding to the massive pile of disposable rubbish."

Posted: Wed - May 21, 2008 at 07:59 AM           |

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