Twenty years after their debut Word Gets Around and six No.1 albums later, Stereophonics are set to release their new album Scream above the Sounds on November 3 on Parlophone Records.
Their tenth studio album, Scream above the Sounds follows Keep the Village Alive, which went straight to No.1 when it was released in 2015.
The band currently consists of founding members Kelly Jones (vocals/guitar) and Richard Jones (bass) along with Adam Zindani (guitar) and Jamie Morrison (drums). Long-term keyboardist Tony Kirkham joins the band for live shows.
Kelly said of the song writing process that he began to write, “Big, anthemic songs that are rallying against those anxious feelings that have flooded through cities. Every song offers a sense of release,” he says, “Even when there’s nostalgia, fear or anxiety, they’re still all offering hope and room to manoeuvre.”
The first single from the album, All in One Night, represents the band’s affection for the melancholy. Set to a consistent mid-paced rhythm which evokes a nocturnal motorway drive, it finds the narrator’s life taking a dramatic turn as night brightens to day. Influenced by the Sebastian Schipper film ‘Victoria’, it’s a song that had an unusual genesis – Kelly started it when the band had an unscheduled day’s stay in China before he finished it back home in London. Even the atmospheric call of the chorus was fortuitous, being an adaptation of a vocal exercise he was using.
Scream above the Sounds was primarily recorded in the band’s HQ in west London with a further session at RAK Studios. Created with the help of regular collaborator Jim Lowe, it’s an album in which creative sonic touches add to the band’s emphasis on song writing and melody.
Scream above the Sounds will be released on digital (standard and deluxe), CD (standard and deluxe) and vinyl LP formats. It’s available to pre-order from http://www.stereophonics.com with All in One Night provided as an instant download.
MAIN PHOTO: Andrew Whitton