(Sonic) Scottish singer-songwriter - Philip Seth Campbell - has unveiled "Magical West", the first single to be taken from his forthcoming solo album 'City Lights' (out 1 September 2023 via Assai Records). Arriving with a colourful official video.
The artist has also announced an extensive UK and Ireland tour for Autumn 2023, as well as three in-store shows in his native Scotland to mark the album's release.
A shimmering and synth-heavy cut that feels as though it was plucked straight from the silver screen, "Magical West" arrives as the first sampler from Campbell's forthcoming album 'City Lights' (out 1 September via Assai Records).
An amalgamation of Campbell's life and career up until this point, the new record unfolds like a series of cinematic snapshots captured in timeless technicolour. From new single and album opener "Magic West" to plucky ballads like "Break The Curse" and "Sober Boy", and from the bluesy soulful title-track "City Lights" to riled-up and rocky "Gut City Blues", the LP sees the artist traverse time and genre with a deft sense of musicality that glints and glimmers like an unearthed trove of deep-buried treasure.
Speaking of the new record, Campbell explains: ""City Lights" is everything I know. The album flowed naturally, each song informing the next. It's half new songs and half older unfinished pieces. I've been writing it since I was 16, all through my 20s and my years in London, through moving home to The Temperance Movement, touring, resting and having a family."
The sound of an artist who has been through the wringer and emerged all the more assured on the other side, the album tells the tale of the highs, lows and everything in between. From major labels and critical acclaim to bands, solo records and eclectic collaborations, Campbell's musical scars have only served to hone his craft and embolden his work in a way that makes him the musician he is today.
Speaking of his varied career and the bumpy road he's traversed to get to this point, Campbell adds: "A new band here, a new project there, a change of direction again and again until, suddenly there was calm and the time to think. In a small studio just outside Glasgow, with pictures of Bowie, Jagger, Neil Young and Tom Waits, I recorded an album about my whole life. I had no desire to shed my skin. I was perfectly comfortable in it for the very first time." Watch the video below:
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