New from Paul Weller: Stream ‘Earth Beat,’ from Weller’s New Album ‘On Sunset’

Iconic English musician/songwriter Paul Weller will get back after it on June 12 when he releases his new solo record, On Sunset — and on Tuesday, the former member of the Jam premiered a track from the record.

Titled “Earth Beat,” the rhythmic song featuring American singer Col3trane is a pretty groovy little number:

A press release describes the On Sunset album as featuring ten “modern” new songs from Weller:

It’s a soul album, but at the same time it’s also an electronic album, an orchestral album, an album packed with masterly pop songs and heart-tugging ballads, and an album filled with touches of experimentalism. It’s also an album that sees Weller taking a rare glance into the rear-view mirror as he speeds into the 2020s.

More insight, via Paul Weller on Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

Earth Beat has arrived, featuring incredible guest vocals from Col3trane & The Staves. This is the first introduction to Paul Weller’s new album ‘On Sunset’ – much more to come… Link in bio. "Earth Beat comes from a track that Jim Jupp had done as Belbury Poly on his label GhostBox. I’m a big fan of that label. I think the track was called The Willows. I started singing this song over the top of it, and came up with the bass riff as well and the guitar riff – just singing over the top of Jim’s original track. Then I got in touch, asked if I could try and develop the track and it rolled on from that." – PW

A post shared by Paul Weller (@paulwellerhq) on Mar 18, 2020 at 8:40am PDT

As for the recording process behind the new record:

Most of the album sees Weller multi-tasking on various instruments with accompaniment from his regular band – Ben Gordelier appears on all tracks and Andy Crofts on most whilst Steve Cradock pops up with his guitar on 4 songs. An eclectic and sometimes surprising gathering of guests appear on On Sunset including Slade’s Jim Lea contributing violin to the Bonzos-esque “Equanimity”, and Paul’s old Style Council chum Mick Talbot adds his signature Hammond Organ sound to 3 tracks. The beautifully lush “More” features a verse sung by French singer Julie Gros, from the band Le Superhomard (whose album Meadow Lane Park was one of Weller’s favourites of 2019) as well as the return of The Strype’s guitarist Josh McClorey. English folk trio The Staves contribute backing vocals for 3 tracks. Once again Hannah Peel sprinkles her magic over the album with string arrangements and The Paraorchestra were invited to add their expertise to 4 tracks.

Stay tuned for more regarding Paul Weller and his new album, On Sunset! And for more, click here to revisit Jeff Slate’s 2018 Q&A with Weller.