Will Varley will release his latest album 'Kingsdown Sundown' via Xtra Mile Recordings on November 4th and to coincide he will embark on a UK & Ireland headline tour. Ticket demand for the tour is high with the London show at Union Chapel already sold out. More info on Will Varley, tour dates and the latest track taken from the album follows:
UPDATE: Due to the success of his upcoming tour (the London show is sold out) Will Varley has already made plans for next year with a headline date at London's O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire on November 25th 2017
Will Varley has reached an unstoppable velocity since signing with Xtra Mile Recordings in 2015 and shows no signs of slowing down as we announce fourth album ‘Kingsdown Sundown’ out 4th November 2016.
With the follow-up to the stellar Postcards From Ursa Minor, an album that propelled Will into unexplored territory, return tours with The Proclaimers and unbelievable summer festival sets, he continues to build upon broken spirits with this set of almost unbearably raw songs.
Recorded underneath a pub by the sea in Deal, Kent as the waves roared outside, Kingsdown Sundown is a bleak and uncompromising critique of the human condition, journeying deep into our dreams, faults, regrets and politics. The songs are more visceral and uneasy than before, with fights in KFC descending into world wars, the all too real plight of refugees and the recent rise in hate crime. A collection of folk songs written over the course of the last year while travelling and touring – written on tour buses and trains, scribbled on the back of set lists and receipts – Will says “these are the most honest songs I've ever written and they represent new ground for me creatively. They may not be radio friendly, or even 'friendly' at all, but I’ve been wanting to make a record like this for a long time."
The rest of the album is hazier, more spectral and a phantom of memories, dreams, and hopes. If there's one song that haunts as much as it heals and warms the soul, it's 'Let Your Guard Down' which sounds like it was sung deeply into the howling wind in defiance, in hope and fear. The most directly political song 'We Want Our Planet Back' feels strongly enough to strap on an electric guitar and strum over Will's patient protest, but it indirectly lends its brooding power to 'Too Late Too Soon' which seems ready to crumple and break, a sandcastle made of a simmering mood. 'Back To Hell' could have come from any period in superstitious folk history, a tale of vague menace, mysticism and the underworld. Finally, 'We'll Keep Making Plans' threatens to build to a crescendo, but instead lets us drift out into a mental sea where the sun is setting on what we knew in favour of the unknown, resolving to carry on, continuing to build our futures on shakier foundations. It’s somehow not dispiriting; it’s more driven by determination to allow sadness not to rule our lives, but be an important part of it.
‘Kingsdown Sundown’ Tracklisting
1. To Build A Wall
2. Something Is Breaking
3. When She Wakes Up
4. February Snow
5. Let Your Guard Down
6. We Want Our Planet Back
7. Too Late Too Soon
8. Wild Bird
9. Back To Hell
10. One Last Look At The View
11. We’ll Keep Making Plans
Will Varley November UK & Ireland Headline Tour
8th GLASGOW // King Tuts // Buy tickets
9th MANCHESTER // Gorilla // Buy tickets
10th NEWCASTLE // The Cluny // Buy tickets
11th NOTTINGHAM // Rescue Rooms // Buy tickets
15th PORTSMOUTH // Wedgwood Rooms // Buy tickets
16th BRISTOL // Thekla // Buy tickets
17th BRIGHTON // Komedia // Buy tickets
18th LONDON // Union Chapel // SOLD OUT
23rd GALWAY // Róisín Dubh // Buy tickets
24th DUBLIN // Whelan’s // Buy tickets
25th BELFAST // The Sunflower // Buy tickets
26th CORK // Cyprus Avenue // Buy tickets
Pre-order ‘Kingsdown Sundown’
Xtra Mile Recordings: http://smarturl.it/KingsdownSundownXMR
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