Recently signed to Polydor, Ed Harcourt returns with his seventh album Furnaces (out August 19th 2016), the most ambitious and abrasive album of his career.
On Sunday evening, the BBC Radio 1 Rock Show premiered ‘Dionysus’ - the first taste from Furnaces. The gnarled track is available now, alongside the apocalyptic paean ‘The World is on Fire’.
Furnaces was produced by legendary producer Flood, a long-time ally of Ed, who has previously worked with the likes of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey and Foals.
The result is an album that, for all its fire and brimstone, is also euphoric and celebratory. “I wanted to make a record that people can cry, f**k and fight to” says Ed. “I don’t think there are many records out like that at the moment, but all my favourite records have that, whether it’s Prince or Nine Inch Nails. I hadn’t made a record before that has this kind of danger to it.”
Fittingly, the album’s artwork was created by the legendary Gonzo artist and Hunter S Thompson collaborator Ralph Steadman. “It’s a dream come true,” says Ed.
Throughout the album Ed plays guitar, bass, drums, piano, synths and assortment of other trinkets - often playing everything you hear! On some tracks, he was joined by his dream line-up: drummer Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint, bassist Tom Herbert of The Invisible & Polar Bear, vocalist Hannah Lou Clark, and percussionist Michael Blair, a frequent Tom Waits collaborator.
Ed Harcourt has enjoyed a truly unique career as a songwriter, producer and musician. Recently, he’s played piano at major festivals with the Libertines, toured as part of Marianne Faithfull‘s band and served as Musical Director for Beck’s Songbook shows at the Barbican.
He has released six critically acclaimed albums to date, and wrote and performed ‘The Way That I Live’, the soundtrack to Burberry’s 2014/15 festive campaign, which has garnered over 25 million views and 1 million streams. Alongside his own output, Ed is a prolific songwriter and producer writing for artists including James Bay and Paloma Faith; and producing for Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Kathryn Williams.
‘Furnaces’ Full Tracklisting:
1 Intro
2 The World Is On Fire
3 Loup Garou
4 Furnaces
5 Occupational Hazard
6 Nothing But A Bad Trip
7 You Give Me More Than Love
8 Dionysus
9 There Is A Light Below
10 Last Of Your Kind
11 Immoral
12 Antartica
In June Ed plays three shows including Glastonbury, two headline shows at the Deaf Institute on the 29th and The Borderline on the 30th and he has been added to the Carol King show in Hyde Park July 4th.
Ed Harcourt plays:
June
Wed 29th MANCHESTER, The Deaf Institute SOLD OUT
Thurs 30th LONDON, The Borderline SOLD OUT
July
Sun 3rd LONDON, Hyde Park w/ Carol King
Sun 24th NORTH YORKSHIRE, Deer Shed Festival
September
Wed 21st LONDON, Village Underground
Tickets go on sale for Village Underground Show Friday July 8th.
