Paul McCartney is due to release an album he made alone during lockdown ‘McCarntney 111,’  the third in his trilogy, on 11th December. It comes as the final part of his trilogy of albums after ‘McCartney’ was released in 1970 and ‘McCartney 11′ in 1980.

The album was recorded earlier this year in Sussex and features live takes of the musician on vocals, guitar and piano and an overdubbed bass and piano part. He began writing the album after revisiting an unreleased track, ‘When Winter Comes’ Which he worked on in the 90’s with George Martin.

He told The Guardian, “It was about making music for yourself rather than making music that has to do a job,” he says. “I had some stuff I’d worked on over the years but sometimes time would run out and it would be left half finished so I started thinking about what I had. Each day, I’d start recording with the instrument I wrote the song on and then gradually layer it all up. It was a lot of fun.”

Some of the other instruments he used to record the album included his violin shaped bass guitar, used at Abby road studios by ‘The Beatles’ and a double bass that backed Elvis Presley and The Wings sessions in 1971. Many other musicians have followed suit by recording at home during the pandemic, and it felt the right time for McCartney to complete his trilogy during lockdown.

He talks about the album to Rollingstone.com saying ““Each day I’d start recording with the instrument I wrote the song on and then gradually layer it all up; it was a lot of fun,” he added. “It was about making music for yourself rather than making music that has to do a job. So, I just did stuff I fancied doing. I had no idea this would end up as an album.”

His solo album, ‘McCartney’ released in April 1970 was greeted eagerly from fans as it was his first solo work since ‘The Beatles.’ The album turned out to be heavily criticised by critics for being, ‘shambolic, primitively recorded collection of instrumentals, song fragments, experiments in what would eventually be called world music,’ – The Guardian

‘McCartney 11′ his second solo album was recorded with his 1970’2 band, ‘Wings Collapsed’ and has more of a 70’s synth based sound to it with influences of disco punk. Both of the albums were, in a sense, experimental music and very different from the melodic tunes has written.

When asked about retirement, McCartey replied, “Everything I do is always supposed to be my last. When I was 50 – ‘That’s his last tour.’ And it was like, ‘Oh, is it? I don’t think so.’ It’s the rumour mill, but that’s OK.”

McCartney was due to headline ‘The Glastonbury Festival’ this year for it’s 50th Anniversary edition but due to the coronvirus pandemic, it was cancelled in March. After a 40 year wait for the new solo album, fans are excited to hear his new music, which will complete his trilogy.