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David Gray today releases the video for his new single ‘The Sapling’, the lead-off track from forthcoming new album  Gold In A Brass Age, due for release on March 8, 2019, via IHT Records / AWAL Recordings. Produced by Ben de Vries, son of producer and soundtrack composer Marius de Vries, Gold In A Brass Age – Gray’s first album of new material in four years – arrives just ahead of a run of headline shows, commencing at Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on Friday, 15th March and including London’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday, 17th March before culminating with two nights at Dublin’s Bord Gais Theatre on Saturday 5th  and Sunday 6th  April.

Gray personally sought out Baltimore-based zoetrope artist Eric Dyer to create the kaleidoscopic clip which now accompanies ‘The Sapling’. The video nods towards the track’s rumination on the cyclical brevity of life and ecology with projected time lapse footage of germinating acorns, scaled-up to hypnotic effect.

Speaking about the video Gray says; “I came across Eric’s TEDx Talk, & some of the zoetropes he’d created looked incredible. There was a clinching moment when he referenced the origin of the word zoetrope from the Greek words zoe (life) and tropos (turn), hence – wheel of life. It was a perfect fit for ‘The Sapling’, and at that moment I just knew it just had to be. We sent some time lapse footage of an acorn growing over to Eric for him to do his thing and create a new animation with it. Our video director Rex had the idea that we could take the animations out into the woods somewhere and back project them onto a huge screen while I performed the song in front. The end result feels like a subtle harmony between the zoetropes & the song.”

 Watch ‘The Sapling’ – BELOW:

Gold In A Brass Age is itself a defined by an intuitive approach from Gray, exploring electronic textures and sound palettes, along with new production techniques in the process. Using a cut and paste approach to the arrangement of songs, the album’s atmospheric and experimental undertones are evident throughout. The album’s title is drawn from Raymond Carver’s short story Blackbird Pie, and informed by the regenerative cut and thrust of Gray’s adopted home of London and a fascination with the natural world. The album’s striking artwork – for which Gray approached Peckham-based Londonboy Tattooer – depicts an Emperor moth with the City of London captured between its wingspan.

The new release will be David Gray’s eleventh album in a career that spans over 25 years, several Brit and Grammy nominations, and three No.1 UK albums, including for the breakout multi-platinum White Ladder. It is also a vital new collection of songs from an artist still revelling in his passion for song-craft, pushing himself into unfamiliar terrain, surprising himself as much as his fans along the way.

Live Dates:

Fri, 15 Mar              Cardiff                     St David’s Hall
Sat, 16 Mar              Cambridge              Corn Exchange
Sun, 17 Mar              London                     Royal Festival Hall
Tue, 19 Mar              Brighton              Dome
Wed, 20 Mar              Southend              Cliffs Pavilion
Fri, 22 Mar              Manchester              Bridgewater Hall
Sat, 23 Mar              Nottingham               Royal Concert Hall
Sun, 24 Mar              Gateshead              Gateshead
Tues, 26 Mar              Liverpool              Philharmonic Hall
Wed, 27 Mar              Bournemouth              Pavilion Theatre
Fri, 29 Mar              Birmingham              Symphony Hall
Sat, 30 Mar              York                     Barbican
Sun, 31 Mar              Glasgow              Royal Concert Hall
Tues, 2 Apr              Belfast                     Waterfront
Thur, 4 April              Castlebar              Royal Theatre
Fri, 5 April              Dublin                     Bord Gais Theatre
Sat, 6 April              Dublin                     Bord Gais Theatre