Richard Thompson releases new album Dream Attic

Richard Thompson to release Dream Attic on August 30th

Richard Thompson, one of the most distinguished guitarists and songwriters of our time, returns with Dream Attic, a magnificent collection of 13 new songs, due out August 30, 2010 on Proper Records.

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Penned during a short and inspired burst of creative outpouring, Thompson captured the awesome energy of his live show by recording the album in front of an audience.

"I don't think musicians playing on their own are particularly interesting, it's only when they play in front of an audience that something interesting happens," Thompson said in an interview at the show.

The songs were performed during a West Coast tour in February of this year, and the bulk of the performances that made the album come from three shows at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.

A special limited edition two-disc set containing a second disc of all 13 demos and a double-vinyl edition will also be released by Proper on August 30th.

Richard Thompson has just completed his stint as the Artistic Director of the Meltdown Festival at the Southbank complex which took place over eleven nights during June and featured a record 36 events.

Among the shows Thompson performed were the UK Premiere of Cabaret of Souls, Six Strings, hosted by Richard and featuring guitar legends James Burton, Motown Funk Brother, Dennis Coffey, and classic Ventures' picker Nokie Edwards, 1000 Years of Popular Music and Loud & Rich, with Loudon Wainwright III. Thompson also took part in the memorable tribute to Kate McGarrigle, An Evening of Political Songs and joined both Paolo Nutini and Elvis Costello on stage.

Meltdown over, Richard Thompson is playing acoustic sets at a number of Festivals during the Summer, which has included Glastonbury and Hop Farm. On the eve of Meltdown, Thompson was also given the prestigious Les Paul Award at this year's Mojo Honours.

Dream Attic was produced by Thompson and long-time cohort Simon Tassano, and they vividly captured the inspired interaction of the players.

The musicians appearing on the album with Thompson are Pete Zorn (guitars, flute, sax, mandolin), Michael Jerome (drums), Taras Prodaniuk (bass), and Joel Zifkin (violin, mandolin).

"The thing about recording live is that you lose accuracy but you gain energy; you lose choices but you gain immediacy," Thompson says about his decision to work in a live setting. But at the same time, the accuracy is marvellously maintained thanks to the elevated musicianship, frequently leading to extended passages of eruptive forcefulness topped by one after another of Thompson's jaw-dropping solo forays.

The album opens explosively with "The Money Shuffle", which Thompson says is "dedicated to our good friends on Wall Street who did such a fine job lately... It's just a mild satire." The resulting take is the antithesis of mild, building toward an absolutely scalding guitar solo.

From this bracing start, the sequence rolls through traditionally rooted balladry ("Among the Gorse, Among the Grey"), an intriguing sharply drawn character study ("Here Comes Geordie"), image-filled observations ("Burning Man") and recollections of bygone eras ("Demons in Her Dancing Shoes", set in the East End of London in the '60s).

"Sidney Wells" is a traditional murder ballad in modern dress, "Crimescene" is a raging reaction to the inexorable aging process. "A Brother Slips Away" is a moving elegy to friends the 61-year-old Thompson has lost within the last year, and "Big Sun Falling in the River" is a buoyantly Beatlesque instant classic.

The record ends as dynamically as it began, with "If Love Whispers Your Name," a ballad in ¾ time that works itself up to a breathtaking wide screen climax.

To preserve the freshness of the experience, the players went through minimal preparation before embarking on the eight-date mini-tour.

"We learned how to play the songs as we went," says Thompson. And that was precisely how the bandleader wanted it. "It's good to be comfortable up to a point," he says. "What you want ideally is to be comfortable and challenged." On several levels, Thompson notes, these 2010 shows felt not terribly different from Fairport's very first tour of the States in 1970, which followed the exit of Sandy Denny. "That particular incarnation of Fairport was a very musical, well rehearsed and tight band," Thompson recalls.

Thompson's last studio album, 2007's critically acclaimed Sweet Warrior also produced by Thompson and Tassano and also released by Proper. It reflected on themes of combat, both in love and war, and featured the provocative and vivid evocation of the Iraq War, "Dad's Gonna Kill Me."

Dream Attic tracklisting:

The Money Shuffle
Among the Gorse, Among the Grey
Haul Me Up
Burning Man
Here Comes Geordie
Demons in Her Dancing Shoes
Crimescene
Big Sun Falling in the River
Stumble On
Sidney Wells
A Brother Slips Away
Bad Again
If Love Whispers Your Name

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