With his plans first revealed at the tail-end of 2012, news of Bernard Fanning’s second solo album and follow-up to 2005’s Tea And Sympathy now has some concrete release details.
A brand new video teaser released today reveals that new material from the former frontman of one of Australia’s most celebrated rock bands is due before the end of the month.
The new 20 second video teaser (which you can view above) shows footage of Fanning working in the studio, with a rather blues-doused soundtrack, and the confirmation of a lead single from the as-yet untitled record due April 22nd, while the album itself will reach fans on June 7th.
The snippet of blues rock featured in the teaser demonstrates a fuller band sound in contrast to the acoustic stylings of Fanning’s solo debut, while the Powderfinger singer has been keeping fans updated on his work in the studio through a blog and photo diary on his official website.
As previously reported, Fanning has been working in LA with American producer Joe Chiccarelli, who has a proven track record working with Australian musicians, including Augie March and Boy & Bear, and with reports of guest sax players, session soloists, and fuller bands all featuring on the record, its clear that Fanning’s latest will contrast in style to his breakout solo tracks like ‘Wish You Well’ and ‘Songbird’. The teaser shows footage of Fanning working in the studio, with a rather blues-doused soundtrack, and the confirmation of a lead single – due April 22nd.
“It’s mostly soulful rock. A little more keyboard and a little more mongrel,” said the singer himself, last December, attempting to describe the sound of the new record, which he’s been working on ever since Powderfinger’s 2010 farewell tour.
What followed was a turbulent 18 months for Fanning, “a lot of things changed for me. Powderfinger finished and that had been my whole adult life,” the singer told press last year. “A couple of months later, Dad died after a long illness. Then I moved out of Australia and it wasn’t going to be for that long but we had another baby and moving around with kids.”
“My Dad died and then I had a son,” says Fanning. “All that stuff that happens, the big life scenarios, it was an intense year but great too and you’re gonna write about it,” he says of the new material, including a new approach to his composition. “I wanted to write songs from the rhythm up instead of the melody down… When I wrote my first record I wrote everything with acoustic guitar, vocals, and wine.”
While the former voice of Powderfinger is keeping busy on the musical front, fellow bandmate and guitarist Ian Haug has been occupied with his own recording space, Airlock Studios, in his native Brisbane – conveniently located near the Eatons Hill Hotel, the live music venue where Haug was recently named Director of Live Entertainment as the venue’s new band booker.
Perhaps the Brisbane based venue would make a cosy jumping off point for the tour plans Fanning has been hinting at in the lead-up to the June release of his new album.
