David Gray Announces New Album 'Dear Life', Confirms Spring UK And Ireland Tour
Friday, 13 September 2024
Written by Laura Johnson
Photo: Robin Grierson
David Gray has announced a new album and a spring UK and Ireland tour.
'Dear Life' is due for release on January 17, and he'll support it with the Past & Present Tour, which will head across North America in January and February, and the UK and Europe March and April.
The latter leg will begin on March 13 in Portsmouth, and includes a performance at London's Royal Albert Hall as the penultimate date, with the trek set to wrap up at Dublin's 3Arena on April 5. Tickets go on general sale at 10am on September 20.
As a preview of his new record, Gray has shared the first single, Plus & Minus featuring Talia Rae. Introducing it, he said:
“Some unfinished songs just refuse to do the polite thing and go away. And that’s certainly true of this one, which had me going round in circles for nearly 20 years to the point where it almost drove me crazy. ‘Plus & Minus’ is based in part on a chord sequence that was born way back in 2004, and it’s no exaggeration to say that it has taken all those long, intervening years to fully resolve it.
"It’s an unusual sort of song for me to write in that it’s an out-and-out three minute pop song. In a slightly ‘Babylon’ style, it revolves around the same idea three times. In ‘Babylon’, we had Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Here we have ‘You know the way desire is … You know the way the light is … You know the way that time is.’ I could see that from the word go. It’s so full of hooks both lyrically and melodically that it needed a tight arrangement to really optimise their value. This took a LOT of work to get right, but we got there in the end…even if the end was 20 years on from the beginning!”
Discussing the album, he added: “A lot has happened to me. There’s been change on so many levels, all the ups and downs and dramas and tragedies and joys that the slow movement through life brings. This record has been a reckoning with stuff that’s been building up like static for years. But I say this with joy and a smile on my face. I know what I’ve done is as good as anything I could possibly do.”
Head below to check out Plus & Minus, the video for which will premiere at 5pm BST today (September 13), alongside the new album's artwork and tracklist.
'Dear Life' tracklist:
After The Harvest
Plus & Minus
Eyes Made Rain
Leave Taking
I Saw Love
Fighting Talk
Sunlight On Water
That Day Must Surely Come
Singing For The Pharaoh
The Messenger
Acceptance (It's Alright)
Future Bride
The Only Ones
The First Stone
More Than Anything
David Gray Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows
Fri September 13 2024 - MANCHESTER Opera House
Thu March 13 2025 - PORTSMOUTH Guildhall
Fri March 14 2025 - BRIGHTON Dome
Sun March 16 2025 - SWANSEA Arena
Mon March 17 2025 - BATH Forum
Tue March 18 2025 - OXFORD New Theatre
Thu March 20 2025 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE O2 City Hall
Fri March 21 2025 - STOCKTON Globe
Sat March 22 2025 - GLASGOW SEC Armadillo
Mon March 24 2025 - NOTTINGHAM Royal Concert Hall
Tue March 25 2025 - MANCHESTER O2 Apollo
Thu March 27 2025 - SHEFFIELD City Hall
Fri March 28 2025 - LLANDUDNO Venue Cymru
Sat March 29 2025 - LEICESTER De Montfort Hall
Mon March 31 2025 - LIVERPOOL Philharmonic
Tue April 01 2025 - BIRMINGHAM Symphony Hall
Thu April 03 2025 - LONDON Royal Albert Hall
Sat April 05 2025 - DUBLIN 3Arena
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