Robert Plant, the acerbic former vocalist for Led Zeppelin, has announced the upcoming release of a brand new solo album, Carry Fire, due out Friday, October 13, 2017 via Nonesuch/Warner Bros. Records.
Carry Fire, Plant’s eleventh solo album and first full-length release since 2014’s acclaimed lullaby and…The Ceaseless Roar, was produced by Plant in the west of England and Wales, at Top Cat studio in Box, Wiltshire with additional recordings at Real World and Rockfield studios. As with lullaby, the album sees Plant accompanied by his multi-talented latter-day live outfit, The Sensational Space Shifters, featuring John Baggott on keyboards, moog, loops, percussion, drums, brass arrangement, t’bal, snare drum, slide guitar, piano, electric piano, bendir; Justin Adams on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, oud, E-bow quartet, percussion, snare drum, tambourine; Dave Smith on bendir, tambourine, djembe, drum kit; and Liam “Skin” Tyson on dobro, guitar, acoustic guitar, pedal steel, twelve-string.
Plant and the Space Shifters are also joined on Carry Fire by a number of special guests. Chrissie Hynde (Pretenders) joins Plant on the duet “Bluebirds Over The Mountain,” written by rockabilly legend Ersel Hickey and later recorded by both Richie Valens and The Beach Boys. Albanian cellist Redi Hasa alsp performs on three tracks, as does the celebrated Seth Lakeman on viola and fiddle.
You can listen to “The May Queen,” the first single from Plant’s new album, Carry Fire, below via Plant’s YouTube page:
Plant and the Space Shifters (which now includes Lakeman as a full-time member) will celebrate Carry Fire‘s release by beginning a world tour in November 2017 starting in UK & Ireland and traversing all corners of globe from there. Dates for the tour will be announced soon.
Plant and his band spent two years on the road together supporting lullaby and…The Ceaseless Roar, their unique sound and vision ultimately evolving into something even more creative and powerful than what they put on wax for their first album together.
The songs on Carry Fire meld unusual rhythms with naturalism and smoldering power. “It’s about intention,” explains Plant in a statement, “I respect and relish my past works but each time I feel the lure and incentive to create new work. I must mix old with new. Consequently the whole impetus of the band has moved on its axis somewhat, the new sound and different space giving way to exciting and dramatic landscapes of mood, melody and instrumentation.”
Carry Fire is available for pre-order now via all digital music retailers as well as nonesuch.com and robertplant.com with an instant download of the album’s first track, “The May Queen.” Pre-orders via nonesuch.com and robertplant.com also include an exclusive limited-edition print featuring a beautiful image from the album art.
You can see the full track list for Robert Plant’s new album, Carry Fire, below:
Robert Plant (& The Sensational Spaceshifters) – Carry Fire (2017) Track Listing:
1. The May Queen
2. New World…
3. Season’s Song
4. Dance With You Tonight
5. Carving Up The World Again… a wall and not a fence
6. A Way With Words
7. Carry Fire
8. Bones Of Saints
9. Keep It Hid
10. Bluebirds Over The Mountain
11. Heaven Sent