RICHARD ASHCROFT’S NEW SOLO ALBUM, THESE PEOPLE, IS OUT NOW

These People – acclaimed U.K. artist Richard Ashcroft‘s first album in six years – is out today and available HERE. Released in the U.S. by Harvest Records, the album reaffirms his place as one of the most defining and prodigious songwriters of his generation. A two-disc vinyl edition is available from Ashcroft’s store.The official video for the track “Hold On” premiered earlier this week and can be seen HERE

NME awarded the album a 4/5 score, hailing These People as a “satisfying return to Verve form that’s also a churning maelstrom of death, riots, revolution, terrorism and two-faced politicians…a grandmaster lesson.””He has more to say than ever,” concluded Noisey’s John Doran in an episode of “The British Masters.” Q noted, “he’s more absorbing the more personal he gets…[his voice is] still rich and dramatic but nuanced and temperate in the right places.” In a review of his recent show at The Roundhouse in London, The Telegraph noted, “[With] This Is How It Feels, you remembered what made The Verve and Ashcroft special…Their songs were like rubies in the rubble: at their best, they sparkled.”

Ashcroft – who has been honored with two BRIT awards, an Ivor Novello Award and a GRAMMY® nomination for The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony” – produced These People in London with longtime collaborator Chris Potter. He reunited with Wil Malone to work on orchestrations of the material. Malone previously collaborated with Ashcroft on the string arrangements for The Verve’s A Northern Soul (1995) and the 10-million-selling Urban Hymns (1997) plus Ashcroft’s acclaimed debut solo album, Alone with Everybody(2000).

Watching personal and world events take a darker turn compelled Ashcroft to record the album and, he says, led to ” a sense of urgency and a clearing of the mind.” While These Peopleaddresses such topics as the war in Syria, the Arab Spring uprisings and the death of a friend, it also brims with hope, as evidenced in the transcendent track “This Is How It Feels.” View the video for “This Is How It Feels” HERE or stream the track HERE.

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