Gruff Rhys shares new single ‘Can’t Carry On’
Gruff Rhys has released a new track “Can’t Carry On” and its accompanying video today, from his forthcoming album, Seeking New Gods, out 21st May.
His seventh solo album, Seeking New Gods was recorded in the Mojave Desert, following a US tour and mixed in LA with superstar producer Mario C (Beastie Boys), with beautiful art direction by long-time Gruff collaborator Mark James, who also produced the inimitably Gruff Rhys-styled video for “Can’t Carry On”. The video, which features Gruff climbing both the literal and metaphorical mountain, is a direct segue from the prior video for first single “Loan Your Loneliness”.
According to Gruff, “Can’t Carry On” is about “when reality catches up with delusion and the search for a guiding hand out of a heavy situation”. Listen to the track and watch the video HERE.
Seeking New Gods started off as a biography of Mount Paektu, an active East Asian volcano. However, as Gruff wrote, he began to reflect on the inhuman timescale of the peak’s existence and the intimate features that have allowed mythologies to be built around it over centuries. Both the mountain and the songs became more and more personal to him as time went on. The typically beautiful album art direction is by Mark James and the LP features a Mountain Die Cut envelope-style sleeve with a Belly Band and is pressed on on limited Dark Green Vinyl while LP orders from our webstore include a signed postcard and lyric poster and CD orders include a signed postcard. Order HERE from the Rough Trade Webstore.
Over the past decades, Gruff’s creative output has been nonstop and unparalleled. Part of it has always been about pushing the boundaries of how music is presented and performed, starting with quadrophonic sound system tours as part of Super Furry Animals. For this record, Gruff has partnered with the BBC’s R&D department to create an at-home, multi-device immersive listening experience for fans. It will be the first time the BBC has offered this technology for use with an album. Full details including fan listening events will be announced soon.
This autumn Gruff is going on Tour, tickets are available from Gruff’s website.
5/21 – Islington, UK @ Islington Town Hall
5/22 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk
7/2-7/4 – Swadlincote, UK @ Timber Festival 2021
9/3 – 9/5 – Moseley, UK @ Moseley Folk & Arts Festival 2021
10/7 – Wrexham, UK @ Focus Wales 2021
10/21 – Sheffield, UK @ Crookes Club
10/22 – Cambridge, UK @ Storey’s Field Centre
10/23 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
10/26 – Oxford, UK @ O2 Academy 2 Oxford
10/27 – London, UK @ Electric Ballroom
10/29 – Limerick, IE @ Dolan’s Warehouse
10/30 – Dublin, IE @ Liberty Hall Theatre
11/01 – Bath, UK @ Komedia Bath
11/02 – Southsea, UK @ Wedgewood Rooms
11/03 – Norwich, UK @ Norwich Arts Centre