Welsh musician Cate Le Bon has shared a video for “Running Away”, a lead single from her upcoming new album Pompeii. The new release is out on the 4th of February 2022 on Mexican Summer and it will be the sixth full-length studio album in her career. It can be pre-ordered here. 

The video for the leading track “Running Away” has been directed by Casey Raymond, Le Bon’s long collaborator. It’s been shoot in The Factory in Porth, Wales. The clip shows the singer and saxophonist Euan Hinshelwood. “The song radiates sax-swagger; a tale exquisite in nature but ultimately doomed”. “The fountain that empties the world / Too beautiful to hold, we can hear the lyrics. Watch the video for “Running Away” below.

The new album is an “audacious tribute to memory, compassion and mortal salience“. Songs of Pompeii “feel suspended in time both of the moment and instant but reactionary and Dada-esque in their insistence to be playful, satirical, and surreal” says the statement.

Le Bon is a multi-instrumentalist and recorded the album largely by herself, with a help of co-producer Samur Khouja. “Pompeii was written and recorded in a quagmire of unease. Solo. In a time warp. In a house I had a life in 15 years ago. I grappled with existence, resignation and faith. I felt culpable for the mess but it smacked hard of the collective guilt imposed by religion and original sin” commented Le Bon on her upcoming release.

“The subtitle is: You will be forever connected to everything. Which, depending on the time of day, is as comforting as it is terrifying. The sense of finality has always been here. It seems strangely hopeful. Someone is playing with the focus lens. The world is on fire but the bins must go out on a Tuesday night. Political dissonance meets beauty regimes. I put a groove behind it for something to hold on to. The grief is in the saxophones.”

The album features signature synths made on the singer’s favourite Yamaha DX7, basslines inspired by 1980’s Japanese City Pop and vocals that add depth to each song. 

Le Bon fifth album Reward released in 2019 has reached the Top 50 Best Albums of 2019 by Pitchfork and its been nominate for Mercury Prize. The album received great reviews with mxdwn saying: “Le Bon’s dazzling vocals carry her lyrical narrative like a story untold, just as the melody drools like thick honey, turning into a goopy mass of ambiguous mysticism“.  

Cate Le Bon’s new album Pompeii is out February 4th. Listen / watch the new single “Running Away”https://t.co/sGUTXB9XFp

Mae albwm newydd Cate Le Bon ‘Pompeii” allan ar y 4ydd o Chwefror. Gwyliwch/gwrandech i’r sengl newydd ‘Running Away’https://t.co/sGUTXB9XFp pic.twitter.com/uAGSP89rZu

— Cate Le Bon (@CateLeBon) October 12, 2021

Cate Le Bon will hit the road next year for her World Tour 2022, starting in the USA in February and finishing off in April in the Netherlands. See the full list of the dates below. Tickets are available to purchase here.

6/02/2022 – Colony – Woodstock, NY
8/02 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY
9/02 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY
11/02 – Great Hall – Toronto, ON
14/02 – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL
16/02 – Wonder Ballroom – Portland, OR
17/02 – Crocodile – Seattle, WA
20/02 – The Rock / SLO Brew Music Hall – San Luis Obispo, CA
24/02 – Teragram Ballroom – Los Angeles, CA
26/02 – Pappy’s – Pioneertown, CA

14/03 – Engine Rooms – Southampton, the UK
15/03 – Hackney Empire – London, UK
16/03 – Albert Hall – Manchester, the UK
17/03 – SWG3 TV Studio – Glasgow, UK
18/03 – Empire Music Hall – Belfast, UK
19/03 – The National Concert Hall – Dublin, IE
21/03 – Arts Club – Liverpool, the UK
22/03 – Irish Centre – Leeds, the UK
23/03 – The Mill – Birmingham, UK
28/03 – L’Aeronef – Lille, FR
29/03 – La Maroquinerie – Paris, FR
31/03 – Epicerie Moderne – Lyon, FR
1/04 – Bogen F – Zurich, CH
2/04 – Manufaktur – Schorndorf, DE
3/04 – UT Connewitz – Leipzig, DE
5/04 – Frannz Club – Berlin, DE
6/04 – Nochtspeicher – Hamburg, DE
7/04 – Stockholm – Hus 7 / Slaktkyrkan, SE
8/04 – Parkteatret – Oslo, NO
9/04 – Vega – Copenhagen, DK
11/04 – AB Box – Brussels, BE
12/04 – Paradiso – Amsterdam, NL

Photo Credit:  Press/ H Hawkline