In 2012, Gruff Rhys embarked on a solo ‘investigative concert tour’ through the heart of America following the route taken by his distant relative John Evans. Every night he presented songs augmented by a power point presentation that detailed his relative’s unbelievable history, along with any new piece of information that had come his way during the day. He was ultimately looking for Evans’s lost unmarked grave. Along with many...
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Gruff Rhys shares ‘Bad Friend’ – the third and final track from his new album Sadness Sets Me Free before its release on 26th January. Remarkably, Sadness Sets Me Free is Gruff Rhys’ 25th long playing record in a 35 year recording career. Gruff says on his new track “People always refer to ‘good friends’. This song is toying with the idea of the ‘bad friend’. Maybe a bad friend is still better than not being a friend at all. Some friends...
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Gruff Rhys is pleased to share the second track from his new album ‘Silver Lining (Lead Balloons)’ taken from his 25th Album Sadness Sets Me Free out 26 January 2023. Another elegiacally beautiful track by Rhys, the track is accompanied by a shimmering visual thatcompliments the care-worn wonderment of the music. Stream / Download ‘Silver Lining (Lead Balloons)’ herePre-order / Pre-save Sadness Sets Me Free here.
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Gruff Rhys is pleased to announce his new album Sadness Sets Me Free which will be released on 26 January, 2024. This incredibly will be the 25th album he has released in his 35 year career individually, collaboratively and as a member of various bands. Lead-off single ‘Celestial Candyfloss’ is a telling four minute glimpse of the forthcoming album, revealing the heady wonders and classic pop sounds within. Soaring strings carry the sweet melodies along,...
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Gruff Rhys is pleased to announce his forthcoming soundtrack to the film The Almond & The Seahorse via Remote Control Records. The double album will be released digitally and on double deluxe LP in February 2023. The 22-track album comprises original songs and instrumental score, all composed by Gruff Rhys. Recorded between 2021-2022 with a host of featured musicians including members of the National Orchestra of Wales, the music features throughout the forthcoming film of the...
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Gruff Rhys is pleased to announce a new two track single called People are Pissed via Rough Trade Records / Remote Control Records. The tracks are available digitally now and also for pre-order in special Limited Edition cassette format, designed by regular collaborator Mark James. Gruff says: “The lyrics were basically inspired by the widespread anger I – and many other people felt towards the incompetence and arrogance of the Johnson regime during the lockdowns – not that...
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Gruff Rhys releases his new album Seeking New Gods, out now on Rough Trade / Remote Control Records. His seventh solo album, Seeking New Gods was recorded following a 2019 US tour with his band and mixed in LA with superstar producer Mario C (Beastie Boys), with beautiful art direction is by long-time Gruff collaborator Mark James. Gruff has a long history of pushing the boundaries of how music can be listened to, and has been working with BBC Research & Development on a special...
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Gruff Rhys has released a new track ‘Can’t Carry On’ and its accompanying video, from his forthcoming album, Seeking New Gods, out May 21, 2021 via Rough Trade Records. His seventh solo album, Seeking New Gods was recorded in the Mojave Desert, following a US tour and mixed in LA with superstar producer Mario C (Beastie Boys), with beautiful art direction by long-time Gruff collaborator Mark James, who also produced the inimitably Gruff Rhys-styled video for ‘Can’t Carry On’. The video, which features Gruff climbing both the literal and...
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Gruff Rhys is releasing his new album Seeking New Gods through Rough Trade Records / Remote Control Records on Friday 21 May. This will be Gruff’s seventh solo album. Seeking New Gods was recorded following a US tour with his band and mixed in LA with superstar producer Mario C (Beastie Boys). The album concept was originally driven to be the biography of a mountain, Mount Paektu (an East Asian active volcano). However, as Gruff’s writing began to reflect on the inhuman timescale of a...
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In honour of The Boss’s birthday, Lucy Dacus has released a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing In The Dark’. This is the fourth instalment of her 2019 holiday song series, following her Valentine’s Day cover of ‘La Vie En Rose,’ and original songs ‘My Mother & I’ and ‘Forever Half Mast,’ celebrating Mother’s Day and Independence Day, respectively. Lucy’s ongoing 2019 singles series will also include tracks tied to Halloween, Christmas, and New Year’s, with a physical EP coming this Spring. Is there...
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pang [ pang] noun a sudden feeling of mental or emotional distress or longing: a pang of remorse; a pang of regret a sudden, brief, sharp pain or physical sensation; spasm: hunger pangs. Pang! the new album from Gruff Rhys, out Friday 13 September via Rough Trade. It’s a pop album with a couple of verses of Zulu and an English title, which developed unexpectedly over about 18 months. It’s...
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Gruff Rhys follows a series of sold out gigs played with full orchestras in Cardiff, London and Manchester with a new video for ‘Selfies In The Sunset’, the closing track from his fifth album Babelsberg, out now. Watch below! Directed and animated by Ewan Jones Morris, the video features Gruff and guest singer Lily Cole creating Animojis ahead of the apocalypse. Of the track, Gruff writes: A couple of years ago...
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Gruff Rhys releases his fifth album, Babelsberg, it’s his first record for Rough Trade since 2007’s classic Candylion. Babelsberg was initially recorded in early 2016 in a whirlwind three day session that took place before producer Ali Chant’s studio was demolished. The band he gathered for the record were his regular drummer Kliph Scurlock and multi-instrumentalists Stephen Black and Osian Gwynedd. The tracks then hibernated for eighteen months, awaiting orchestral scores by Swansea...
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Gruff Rhys shares ‘Limited Edition Heart’, the second song to be released from Babelsberg, the fifth album by Gruff Rhys and his first record for Rough Trade and Remote Control since 2007’s classic Candylion. Gruff said “I wrote Limited Edition Heart whilst walking along a polluted yet beautiful river. It has beautiful orchestral arrangements thanks to Stephen McNeff and the BBC NOW orchestra.” Babelsberg was initially recorded in early 2016 in...
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Gruff Rhys announces his fifth album, Babelsberg, set for release on Friday 8 June. It’s his first record for Rough Trade since 2007’s classic Candylion. Gruff also shares the first track from the record ‘Frontier Man’, watch the video below! The album’s ten tracks were initially recorded in early 2016 in a whirlwind three day session that took place before producer Ali Chant’s studio was demolished. The band he gathered...
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