Johnny Flynn and The Sussex Wit have confirmed they will release a new album, ‘Sillion’, and also head back out on tour in 2017, as reported by Dork. In addition, they have released lead single, ‘Raising the Dead’, to whet fans appetites for the release and performances.
‘Sillion’ will be released on 24th March. It is Flynn’s first studio album since 2013’s ‘Country Mile’, although he did also release a live album from a gig in Washington DC in 2014, and has also appeared on the soundtrack album for the BBC Four TV series Detectorists. Flynn has enlisted the help of friends for the album, including Cosmo Sheldrake on electronics, and Dave Tattersall on electric guitar. Talking to the London Evening Standard in late 2015, Flynn gave an insight into how he makes his music and the kind of music he wants to make. Flynn admitted, ‘I’m not a fan of taking too long in the studio, I always do one vocal take and jump out of the control room, and people push me back in… It’s a real turn-off to hear things that are too polished. I feel like I’ve almost fought for the right to be that kind of musician — we used to be on a major label and now we’re on an indie.’ On his influences, Flynn revealed that he wasn’t a folk traditionalist at all, instead claiming, ‘I really love a lot of early Sixties R&B, rock’n’roll, and I love performing songs that have that power and soulfulness. We’ve been enjoying that groove a lot more.’
‘Raising the Dead’ is an intensely personal release for Flynn; explaining his inspiration for the track he says, ‘My Dad died when I was 18, and that was quite a galvanising experience. There’s often an element of that in anything I’m writing; every big loss that you suffer in life, I think everything comes through the conduit of that. I had a really strong sense of my daughter having elements of my Dad when she came along, and it made me kind of laugh – that cyclical sense, of thinking of my daughter as my Dad.’
Flynn’s Tour will kick off on 24th March, the same day as ‘Sillion’ will be released, and will take in seven dates in seven UK cities during that last week of March. If you can’t wait that long to see Mr. Flynn up close and personal, he stars in the TV show ‘Lovesick’ (formerly ‘Scrotal Recall’) is available to stream on Netflix now, and is also set to appear alongside Geoffrey Rush in new Albert Einstein TV drama, ‘Genius’. The full tour schedule is shown below:
24/3 – St. George’s Church – Brighton
25/3 – Church – Leeds
26/3 – Gorilla – Manchester
27/3 – Caves – Edinburgh
28/3 – O2 Academy 2 – Birmingham
29/3 – Trinity – Bristol
31/3 – St. John’s Hackney – London
