Katie Melua - Album No. 8

 

140-gram gatefold LP

Acclaimed Georgian-British singer-songwriter Katie Melua is set to release her brand new studio album Album No. 8 on October 16, 2020. This is a record that represents the culmination of a prolonged period of musical rediscovery by one of Britain's most successful musical artists; Melua has received more than 56 platinum awards.

Originally from Tbilisi, in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Melua moved to the U.K. at the age of 8. Something of a prodigious musical talent she released her debut album Call Off The Search when she was just 19 years old. Since then, Melua has released seven U.K. Top 10 studio albums: Call Off The Search, Piece By Piece, Pictures, The House, Secret Symphony, Ketevan and, most recently, 2016’s self-produced, critically acclaimed In Winter, which she recorded with the Gori Women’s Choir in her native Georgia. She and Kate Bush are the only two British female artists in U.K. chart history to reach the Top Ten with seven consecutive albums.

“A Love Like That” is the first song to be taken from Melua’s eighth studio album Album No. 8. The lyrics see her attempting to reconcile the knotty complexities of real-life love to its fairytale counterpart. Elsewhere, Melua draws from the vernacular of folk songs to evoke a sense of magic-hour wonder mirrored by string arrangements whose depth and movement evoke Charles Stepney’s work with Rotary Connection and Ramsey Lewis.

“A Love Like That” is songcraft at its finest, with Melua’s faultless performance completely inhabiting the song and the musical presentation and arrangements expertly executed by Leo Abrahams, co-composer Sam Dixon, and mixers Cameron Craig and Luke Potashnick. The full cast of exceptional musicians on this track also includes drummer Emre Ramazanoglu, flautist Jack Pinter, and The Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra. The video for “A Love Like That” is the first in a series of stunning visuals Melua has collaborated on with the award-winning director Charlie Lightening (Paul McCartney, Liam Gallagher, Kasabian) and featuring actor Billy Howle (Star Wars, Dunkirk, Outlaw King).

Speaking about the writing process of "A Love Like That" Melua says, " This song is asking the essential timeless question about mad love, ‘How do you make a love like that last?' But before it became about love between a couple it started its life centred on my relationship with work and the stamina required to keep being an artist in the music industry. It was only after my co-composer Sam Dixon and I wrapped our session that I retreated to a cottage in the English countryside for three weeks to wrestle with the song's lyrics. "A Love Like That" continues a narrative that is across the new album. And in the context of love, it is about having the courage to speak openly and freely."

Side 1

1. A Love Like That

2. English Manner

3. Leaving the Mountain

4. Joy

5. Voices in the Night

Side 2

1. Maybe I Dreamt It

2. Heading Home

3. Your Longing Is Gone

4. Airtime

5. Remind Me to Forget

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