To put it simply, True Meanings, the 14th Paul Weller solo album and the 26th studio album of his entire career, is a record unlike any he has ever made before.
True Meanings will be released on September 14th and is an album characterised by grandiose-yet-delicate, lush orchestration: an aesthetic to which Weller's better-than-ever voice, singing some of his most nakedly honest words, is perfectly suited. A dreamy, peaceful, pastoral set of songs to get lost in, it is both an album that his faithful audience has been wanting him to make for a long time, and an album that many new people outside of that audience will relate to. True Meanings follows Weller's 2017's internationally acclaimed album A Kind Revolution.
Click here to pre-order True Meanings
On May 25th, Paul Weller turned 60: a milestone that has unquestionably had an impact on the feel, both lyrically and musically, of True Meanings, which comes across being the most singer-songwriter-style album he has ever made. However, it is also the most collaborative: with more guests involved than any record before.
In addition to Weller's band, Rod Argent of the Zombies provides Hammond organ on "The Soul Searchers" and piano and Mellotron on "White Horses;" folk legends Martin Carthy and Danny Thompson add picked guitar and double bass respectively to "Come Along;" Little Barrie plays lead guitar on "Old Castles;" Lucy Rose sings backup on "Books;" and "Movin On" is the result of a "scratchy demo" on Paul's phone that was sent to Tom Doyle of the White Label project. EvenNoel Gallagher makes a guest appearance.
Perhaps most surprisingly of all, especially given how personal and introspective True Meaningsfeels, lyrics for four of the 14 songs here were written, to Weller's melodies, by others. Connor O'Brien from Villagers came up with the words to opener "The Soul Searchers," while "Bowie," "Wishing Well" and the closing "White Horses" are all the work, lyrically, of Erland Cooper fromErland & The Carnival.
True Meanings was produced by Paul Weller except "The Soul Searchers," which was co-produced by Paul and Conor O'Brien and "Movin On" which was co-produced by Weller and White Label. The album was engineered and recorded by Charles Rees and mixed by Jan Stan Kybert.
True Meanings was recorded in just over three weeks at Weller's own Black Barn Studio with the aforementioned revolving cast of characters dropping in for a day here and there. The orchestration was added soon after and that was that. It is always a good sign when the recording of an album is swift, and here you can just hear that the man at the center of these songs is more focused and inspired than he has ever been.
Track listing for True Meanings:
1. The Soul Searchers
2. Glide
3. Mayfly
4. Gravity
5. Old Castles
6. What Would He Say?
7. Aspects
8. Bowie
9. Wishing Well
10. Come Along
11. Books
12. Movin On
13. May Love Travel With You
14. White Horses
True Meanings is released on the following formats:
CD - housed in a 'soft-pack' gatefold card wallet with 12-page booklet.
Deluxe CD - Limited, deluxe edition CD in a casebound book package, including a 28-page booklet of photos and lyrics.
Vinyl LP - Double heavyweight black vinyl LP, housed in a gatefold 'tip-on' sleeve, with 8-page booklet fixed inside the sleeve, plus a download card. The tip-on sleeve is limited to initial orders only.
True Meanings is available for streaming and download at all digital retailers.
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