After a brief hiatus, I’m back with a few more appearances randomly strewn across the UK:
Saturday 25th June – The Unorthodox Paradox Festival, Anglesey
Saturday 9th July – The Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds (Unity Day Fundraiser gig)
SAturday 13th August – The Ice Box Arts Centre, Glasgow
Monday 15th August – Bannerman’s, Edinburgh
Hear me croon!
2020 has been a strange year for everyone. But my colleagues and I have been busy beavering away while no-one has been looking. During this year we have worked on not one but two new albums. Still very much in the recording stage will be The Scaramanga Six’s tenth studio album…more to come on that in the new year.
But the first of these efforts is out very shortly. I have completed my second solo long player in as many years and will be unleashing it in December 2020. The album is called ‘Cruel Designs’ and follows on from the dark cinematic dance created for 2019’s ‘The Dissolving Man’ record.
Keep you eyes peeled for a new video and the release of the record on the 4th December 2020. It would also be a good idea to head to https://paulmorricone.bandcamp.com/follow_me to follow me on BandCamp for news of the new release as it happens.
Swedes and Yorkshirefolk, here are some solo gigs coming up…
Friday 17th Jan – Larry’s Corner, Stockholm, Sweden with Fibonacci Drone Organ
https://www.facebook.com/events/446453046238724/
Saturday 18th Jan – Syntax Festival, Kulturehuset KilArena, Kil, Sweden
https://www.facebook.com/events/2471858706472755/
Friday 7th Feb – Three Band Extravaganza at Baildon Club, Baildon, W. Yorks with Billy Billy 5P and Gurgles
https://www.facebook.com/events/844656915989467/
Ladies and Gentlemen, here is the new single December. Dedicated to anyone, anywhere who find themselves far away from the ones they love. This is the latest release from The Dissolving Man which features some truly wonderful orchestral arrangements from Spike Scott. Remember, a song is for life not just for christmas…
You can stream it in all the usual places or you can download the December EP with three live tracks here: https://paulmorricone.bandcamp.com/
Please have listen and share, and if you want to avoid Whamageddon, simply put this on repeat until Christmas.
“If there’d ever been a dream collaboration between Scott Walker and Massive Attack this is what it might have sounded like…so dense and ambitious: a huge widescreen soundscape where the harmonic surprises never stop coming” Tom Robinson, BBC6Music
THE DISSOLVING MAN – the new solo album is out now. Listen to it here:
https://paulmorricone.bandcamp.com/album/the-dissolving-man
Here’s the press release blurb that goes with it…
The album opens with THE ART IN THIS – an account of a man lost in time, trapped behind the wheel on a never-ending circular.
The domestic turmoil is in stark contrast to the upbeat drive of the instrumentation.
ESTRANGED follows in a semi-autobiographical theme of an absconded anti-hero returning home after years in the wilderness. A seasoned tale of world weariness set in a more scratchy domestic setting. This sounds like it could be the title soundtrack to a gritty urban TV crime drama series, mixing Outside-era Bowie tech with a soaring Scott Walker-infused vocal workout, an orchestral sweep
of John Barry intensity finished off with a rare slice of baritone sax.
Paul’s delivery becomes up close and personal in the ballad of triumph over adversity in THESE TEARS. Luscious orchestration sweeps into the band’s slow performance. The same feelings of reflection through experience are echoed in the more upbeat HAPPINESS
which manages to combine a Velvet Underground drone with Roy Orbison.
TO HELL WITH NATURE returns to the more complex dance rhythms backed with orchestra and synths for a more defiant tone.
Paul controls his delivery throughout, rising and falling in all the right places.
The second half of the album begins with fully orchestrated ballad called DECEMBER. This is where the warmth of Paul’s voice takes you on a journey of homesickness in a summer Christmas torch song. Working alongside long term collaborator Spike Scott for arrangements, Paul’s songwriting is immediate and disarming.
A MAN POSSESSED draws on the soundtrack instrumentation of a spaghetti western for a tale of a simple man out of control.
The recording features a collaboration with contemporary Electric Dulcimer player Kate Arnold for a truly atmospheric sound.
Then comes lost crime movie theme LIKE I WAS NEVER THERE. The dissolving man picks himself up off the floor after a life drinking it away to the muscular beat of a Bond-esque title sequence.
The final ballad on the album BLOOD MOON is a straight up love song from the pages of the American Songbook,
a genre Paul’s soft delivery excels at.
We find ourselves at the end of the record with a final account of the struggle for identity of a man and his music.
UNTITLED ARTIST, UNTITLED SONG literally chimes with church bells and a three piece band who veer from Sabbath to uplifting alt-rock. So ends the first instalment in Paul Morricone’s singular but multi-faceted creative vision.
‘ESTRANGED’ is the brand new single – the first track completed and released from the recent album sessions at 2Fly Studios in Sheffield with Lord Alan Smyth. I hope you like it – it’s a brooding slice of cinematic croonery and beats. This is of course a taster for an imminent long player full of drama, intrigue and lavish arrangements called ‘THE DISSOLVING MAN’.
‘ESTRANGED’ sounds like it could be the title soundtrack to a gritty urban TV crime drama series, mixing Outside-era Bowie tech with a soaring Scott Walker-infused vocal workout, an orchestral sweep of intensity finished off with a rare slice of baritone sax. If this was a world where things were allowed to run their correct course, then filming would already be underway of the nail-biting season finale.
I’ve been getting my head down in the studio along with my new band CON MEDICINE who add a tight rhythm section to everything. Further orchestral arrangements on this track are created by accomplice Spike Scott to create a sophisticated but rough-edged sound.
Here is a link to download the track on Bandcamp: https://paulmorricone.bandcamp.com/track/estranged
And here’s the video – please SHARE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZERIS4REzKo
