Yep Roc Records has announced the new album from psychedelic folk troubadour Robyn Hitchcock. The Man Upstairs will be available on Aug. 26. It sees Hitchcock uniting with producer Joe Boyd (Nick Drake,
Fairport Convention).
Rather than simply record a new
selection of songs, Boyd suggested what he called 'a Judy Collins album'
such as Elektra would have released in 1967 - part well-known
favorites, part personal discoveries, and part originals. The
multi-tiered approach offered Hitchcock the rare opportunity to record
as a performer, not "just another singer-songwriter laying their
freshest eggs."
Thus,
modern standards like Roxy Music's "To Turn You On," The Doors' "The
Crystal Ship," and The Psychedelic Furs' "The Ghost In You" are
interlaced with lesser-known ones from friends like Grant-Lee Phillips
("Don't Look Down").
Meanwhile, new Hitchcock originals "Trouble In Your
Blood" and "Comme Toujours" find his stark vocal and guitar cast by Boyd against simple, autumnal backing.
"I've always wanted to make a folk record produced by Joe Boyd," says Hitchcock, "and now I have: thank you, universe!"
Recorded and mixed at London's Snap Studio in one week last October, The Man Upstairs
further comes adorned with delightfully macabre cover art painted
exclusively for the album by singer/songwriter Gillian
Welch.
Hitchcock will herald The Man Upstairs with a pair of intimate live dates slated for June 20 at Santa Monica's McCabe's Guitar Shop and Seattle's Columbia City Theater on June 23. A complete North American live itinerary will be announced soon - for more, please see robynhitchcock.com/tourdates.
From
plugging in Bob Dylan's electric guitar at his infamous 1965
performance at the Newport Folk Festival to his stewardship of an array
of folk heroes - Joe Boyd has been intimately involved in some
of music's milestone moments.
Young Robyn first encountered Boyd almost
five decades back, the words "produced by Joe Boyd" emblazoned on album
after album in his teenage canon. The two eventually made a more human -
though no less personal - acquaintance in 1985 as Boyd helmed R.E.M.'s Fables of the Reconstruction.
A relationship developed and in 2012, they toured the US with "Robyn
Hitchcock & Joe Boyd - Live & Direct From 1967," coupling
musical performances with Boyd's reminiscences of a time when giants
walked among us.
robynhitchcock.com
yeproc.com
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