PETER HAMMILL’S LEAFY NEW SOLO
Van der Graaf co-founder explores life, love and hypocrisy on forthcoming release.
From The Trees, Peter Hammill’s 36th solo album, is released on Fie! on November 3. Six of its 10 songs were previewed at Hammill’s three-night Café Oto residency in London this March.
“I’m very pleased with how it turned out,” Hammill tells Prog. “I wanted to do that old-school thing of actually having completed the songs before I went into the recording process.”
This marks a departure from the complex short story/ screenplay aspect of his 2014 solo …All That Might Have Been… and the density of Van Der Graaf Generator’s Prog Awardnominated Do Not Disturb from last year.
“A lot of people say they don’t want to do the same thing from one album to the next. I think over the years, I’ve proved that in spades,” Hammill says.
Although a long way from what many would call a conventional song structure, there is a tender beauty to the material here.
The subject matter is richly Hammill – the passage of time, the hypocrisy of fame and office, a longing for lost love. To support its release, there will be a five-date Japanese tour in October, a visit to Italy for seven shows in November and a solo performance at the IB Expo 17 in Sweden. There’s a possibility that some UK dates will be added next year. “For once in my life, I’m nominally touring to support a record. It’s a triumph of marketing at this very late stage!” Hammill laughs.
For more, visit www.sofasound.com and turn to page 98 for full review of the album.