IMELDA MAY’S
LIFE, LOVE, FLESH, BLOOD
OUT APRIL 7 VIA VERVE RECORDS
OUT APRIL 7 VIA VERVE RECORDS
“BLACK
TEARS” PREMIERES AT BILLBOARD
MAY’S FIRST
NEW FULL-LENGTH ALBUM IN THREE YEARS
PRODUCED BY T BONE BURNETT
PRODUCED BY T BONE BURNETT
Artwork photo credit: Max Dodson
“I’ve never met anyone quite
like Imelda May. She is full of life…
I [am] inspired by her honesty and her generosity, and I continue to
be intrigued.”—T Bone Burnett
I [am] inspired by her honesty and her generosity, and I continue to
be intrigued.”—T Bone Burnett
“I love the girl she used to
be but I think I love even more the woman
she’s become. Still mischievous and playful, still a siren, but there’s an ache
in her voice now that has me with a glass at my ear to the wall of her world
where trouble has entered the room. There’s an erotic power here that’s not
just feminine power. She makes truth telling an invitation to intimacy.”—Bono
she’s become. Still mischievous and playful, still a siren, but there’s an ache
in her voice now that has me with a glass at my ear to the wall of her world
where trouble has entered the room. There’s an erotic power here that’s not
just feminine power. She makes truth telling an invitation to intimacy.”—Bono
Life, Love, Flesh, Blood, the fifth full-length
record from critically acclaimed Irish singer Imelda May and
her first new music in three years, is due April 7 via Verve
Records. The record is receiving early rave reviews in the U.K., with
the Evening Standard noting that May “has poured her heart and soul
into her new album.” Billboard is premiering the track “Black
Tears” in celebration of the forthcoming release; listen/share the
track [HERE]
and HERE.
Additionally, W Magazine recently premiered the
video for the album’s first single, “Call Me,” hailing the
track as a “sweet, spare lament,” while the Daily Mail called it
“stylish and extremely moving.” Watch/share the video HERE. May
also recently performed the album track “Black Tears” on “Jools Holland’s
Annual Hootenanny” on New Year’s Eve, which can be viewed/shared HERE.
May’s performance was the most-watched segment of the evening with 250,000
YouTube views to date, plus it is the second most viewed video on the BBC Music
YouTube Channel since October.
Produced by the legendary T Bone Burnett,
the album marks a new direction for May who, in the time since her 2014 release
Tribal, ended her marriage of eighteen years. Life, Love, Flesh,
Blood is May’s most autobiographical record to date; Burnett says of May,
“When I first happened onto her music, she was a punky Irish Rockabilly singer
with a great band. I was intrigued by her deep feeling for and understanding of
that American art form, much of which, of course, had originated in Ireland.
When I ran across her several years later, she had gone through a change of
lives and was writing about it with a wild intensity and singing about it in
the most open hearted way.” Adds May, “It’s therapy, like keeping a diary that a
lot of people read. Some of my favorite songs don’t say much, but they reveal
everything.”
May’s new musical direction accompanies an overarching
stylistic change for the established singer. “I always loved the ’50s
rockabilly style but there was a point where I felt I was almost dressing up as
Imelda May,” she notes. “It was as if I was getting into character for a gig.
And I didn’t want to do that anymore. This is me.”
Life, Love, Flesh, Blood features contributions from guitar hero Jeff Beck and piano
maestro Jools Holland, as well as an accomplished group of backing musicians
including the core trio of guitarist Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello),
drummer Jay Bellerose (Elton John & Leon Russell, Ray Lamontagne) and
bassist Zach Dawes (The Last Shadow Puppets, Mini Mansions), the same band that
recorded Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand. Recorded over
seven days in Los Angeles, the album was written over the course of May’s
tumultuous past year and includes writing contributions from Angelo Petragalia
(Kings of Leon) and Paul Moak (The Blind Boys of Alabama, Martha Wainwright).
May states that she began writing songs for the album with “no preconceived
notions of where it was going to go. My plan was to have no plan
because it was freedom. It was liberating.”
May’s previous records have seen success both in the U.S. as
well as in Europe. Tribal debuted at #1 in Ireland and #3 in the UK. The
Guardian gave the album four stars, saying “This album is no
time capsule; it’s fresh and embracing…” while The Times praised May’s
“raw, impassioned vocals.” Her previous release, 2010’s Mayhem, also
received critical acclaim with The Los Angeles Times commenting,
“Ireland-born Imelda May’s career is fostered by paying homage to legends like
Buddy Holly and Johnny Cash and, more importantly, furthering rockabilly’s
cross-pollination into New Orleans jazz, delta blues and amp-splitting punk
aggression.” Mayhem went Platinum in Ireland and Gold in the U.K.,
while May has seen performances on “Later…With Jools Holland,” “Conan,” “and an
impressive four performances on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” to name a
few.
