40 Watt Sun Announce Wider than the Sky Album Details
If you’re wondering to what exactly the title Wider than the Sky is referring, the answer arrives in the new teaser for the album. Set for an Oct. 14 release with vinyl through respected purveyor Svart, the record is the second from 40 Watt Sun, the ultra-melancholic Welsh doom project led by Patrick Walker, formerly of Warning. Wider than the Sky follows the band’s 2011 debut, The Inside Room (review here), which garnered massive, massive praise the world over for its depth of tone and emotionality. Thus far — and by that I mean judging by the 1:46 teaser — it seems the PR wire is right on when speaking of sparser arrangements. It will be interesting to hear what 40 Watt Sun do with the spaciousness they create.
The PR wire brings the album announcement:
40 WATT SUN unveil details of new album, ‘Wider than the Sky’
40 WATT SUN have today unveiled details of their long-awaited second album. Wider than the Sky is the much anticipated follow-up to 2011’s critically-lauded The Inside Room.
Once again self-produced by the band, the new songs were recorded over five days at Giant Wafer Studios, isolated deep in the heart of the mid-Wales countryside.
Wider than the Sky has been an album fraught with delays and difficulties. In a move intended to regain autonomy over their own recordings and future plans as a band, 40 WATT SUN have elected to self release the album via their own label, Radiance Records.
In the spirit of the band’s previous music, Wider than the Sky, is imbued with sweeping, soaring melodies yet sparse, minimalist arrangements. However, eschewing the solidifying wall of sound that characterised their debut, 40 WATT SUN continue to progressively explore and broaden their sonic palette.
As expected, Patrick’s lyrics, strung with aching introspection and pained nostalgia, hang on his characteristic and poignant vocals and delicate guitar lines, with Christian Leitch’s sensitive and nuanced drum-work, and William Spong’s thoughtful bass guitar gently revealing themselves in the folds of the songs.
From the majestic, sweeping melodies of slow-building opener Stages, to the stark bare-boned crawl of Another Room and the vulnerable, plaintive balladry of closer Marazion, 40 WATT SUN have created an album of painfully emotive, low-key rock music; one which shimmers with some of the most evocative, stirring songs Patrick Walker has written to date.
Artwork for the release has been created by Rebecca Freeman, a Falmouth-based, mixed media artist.
Pre-orders of Wider Than The Sky are available via 40 WATT SUN HERE, ahead of the scheduled release date, October 14. A 2LP vinyl edition of Wider than the Sky will also be released through Finland’s Svart Records.
Wider than the Sky
1. Stages (16:20)
2. Beyond You (09:42)
3. Another Room (11:56)
4. Pictures (09:50)
5. Craven Road (10:31)
6. Marazion (03:56)
40 WATT SUN are:
Patrick Walker: Guitars and Vocals
Christian Leitch: Drums and Percussion
William Spong: Bass and Percussion
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