Former Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry has announced ‘Loose Talk’, a collaborative album which will see the musician stepping into new territory. Set to be released on 28 March 2025, the record will see Ferry working alongside artist Amelia Barratt. A new single, ‘Orchestra’ was released alongside the announcement.
Unlike his glam-rock roots with Roxy Music, or his well-known covers work, ‘Orchestra’ see’s Ferry’s vocals pushed to the back of the mix, with Barratt taking centre stage with a spoken word performance. Ferry has hinted that this approach will be consistent over the 11-track album, with the 79 year old explaining that he handled the music and left the words to Barratt.
In an interview with Super Deluxe Edition, Ferry explained his desire to constantly change and challenge himself: “It’s nice to feel you’re being adventurous. Trying things that you haven’t tried yourself, or nobody else has tried.” The ‘Slave to Love’ singer has a reputation as a musical chameleon, with former GQ columnist Peter York calling him an “art object who should be hung in the Tate”.
‘Loose Talk’ represents the first time Ferry has composed music for another artist. A statement on his website draws parallels between Ferry and Barrett, explaining that both artists were formed in art schools (Ferry at Newcastle University, and Barratt at Glasgow School of Art), and their chance meeting at an art exhibition. The release claimed the album will explore “fascinating micro-fictions, simultaneously fragmentary and self-contained.”
Ferry’s last album of original material came back in 2014 with ‘Avonmore’. The album featured collaborations with various musicians, including Johnny Marr and Nile Rodgers, and peaked at 19 on the UK Albums Chart. His 2018 release, ‘Bitter-Sweet’, reworked his own and Roxy Music’s tracks with his own ‘Bryan Ferry Orchestra’.
In October, ‘Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023’ was released. A career-spanning collection of hits from Ferry’s solo career, it came in at over five hours, and received praise from fans and critics alike with Metacritic showing a score of 90%. Included was ‘Star’, Ferry’s first original song in a decade, of which Uncut magazine said “its smouldering brilliance sounds less a postscript to everything it follows than a new beginning, Ferry nearing 80, still alert to the sound of tomorrow calling.”
Live performances remain uncertain. Ferry joined Roxy Music on their 50th anniversary tour in 2022, but as a solo artist, his last performance came before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The singer played the Royal Albert Hall in March 2020, in a performance that was well-received, and was later released as a live album. In the SDE interview, Ferry was asked about the possibility of more live shows, to which he responded: “Very doubtful. We’ll see how this new album goes. We could do some live presentations, but I’m not sure.”
Reactions to the news of the album and the new single have been positive, with one fan on X commenting: “Love it. Still innovative after all these years.”
Love it. Still innovative after all these years. Love you, big man.
— Elaine McElhatton (@ECMcElhatton) February 1, 2025
Fans will be hoping for another single between now and the album’s release, and will be optimistically hoping for some live performances. The album is available for preorder here.
