Natalie Merchant announces new album 'Leave Your Sleep' + 2010 UK tour dates

Nonesuch Records will release Natalie Merchant's new album, Leave Your Sleep, on April 12, 2010.

Leave Your Sleep is the culmination of six years of research and collaboration and is, in Merchant's words, "The most elaborate project I have ever completed or even imagined."

It is her first studio album since 2003 and her first for Nonesuch.

To coincide with the release, she has announced a European tour in May - her first in eight years - including seven dates in the UK. Tickets are on sale now.

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Natalie Merchant UK tour dates:

(Dates and information subject to change.)

May 2010

Sat 22 London HMV Hammersmith Apollo (£32.50/£30 - 0844 844 4748)
Mon 24 Manchester Lowry (£27.50 - 0161 832 1111)
Tue 25 Gateshead Sage (£27.50 - 0191 443 4661)
Wed 26 Edinburgh Usher Hall* (£27.50/£25/£20 - 0844 499 9990)
Fri 28 Birmingham Symphony Hall (£27.50 - 0121 780 3333)
Sat 29 Bristol Colston Hall (£27.50 - 0117 922 3686)
Sun 30 Brighton Dome (£27.50 - 01273 709 709)

Tickets also available from livenation.co.uk and gigsinscotland.com*

A two-disc set, Leave Your Sleep is a collection of 26 songs adapted from poems selected by Merchant including pieces by both well-known and obscure writers.

Featured are works by British Victorians, early- and mid-20th century Americans and contemporary writers, as well as anonymous nursery rhymes and lullabies.

Among the poets included are Ogden Nash, E.E. Cummings, Robert Louis Stevenson, Christina Rossetti, Edward Lear, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Robert Graves. The album includes an 80-page booklet featuring extensive liner notes by Merchant as well as the original poems. Leave Your Sleep will also be available in a 16-song one-disc abridged version.

In addition to a new method of lyricism, Merchant collaborated with a broad spectrum of artists on Leave Your Sleep, including the Wynton Marsalis Quartet, Medeski Martin & Wood, The Fairfield Four, The Chinese Music Ensemble of New York, the Ditty Bops, members of the New York Philharmonic, The Klezmatics, Lúnasa and Hazmat Modine.

"The poems inspired vastly different musical settings with themes that ranged from humorous and absurd to tragic, romantic, and deeply spiritual. The sessions involved 130 musicians and were recorded in live ensemble settings to capture a fresh and spontaneous energy," notes Merchant. "They were some of the most magical experiences I've ever had making music." Leave Your Sleep was co-produced by Merchant with Andres Levin, and engineered by Nick Wollage.

Throughout her career Natalie Merchant has had tremendous popular and critical success. She has earned a place among America's most respected recording artists with a reputation for being a songwriter of quality and a captivating performer.

Q has called her 'Among the most compelling and distinctive voices of the last decade,' while Vogue has said she is 'One of the most successful and enduring alternative artists to emerge from the eighties - intact and uncompromised.'

Natalie Merchant began her musical career in 1981 as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the multi-platinum band 10,000 Maniacs.

In 1995 she released a self-produced debut solo album, Tigerlily, which sold more than four million copies. In the years following, she released Ophelia (1998), Natalie Merchant Live (1999) and Motherland (2001). In 2003, after 18 years, she left Elektra Records and independently released an album of traditional and contemporary folk music, The House Carpenter's Daughter. She also curated compilations for both 10,000 Maniacs, Campfire Songs (2004), and her solo work, Retrospective (2005).

For music and more, go to:

Natalie Merchant Official Website

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