Less than a year after Paul Weller released On Sunset, the former Jam frontman is returning with Fat Pop (Volume 1), his 16th solo album.
With his tour dates in support of his 2020 album postponed, Weller used the Covid-19 quarantine as a catalyst to excavate song ideas stored on his phone. He revisited the tracks, recording just the vocals, piano, and guitar; when restrictions were lifted, Weller and his bandmates reconvened at his Black Barn studio in Surrey, England, to complete the album.
In an interview with Rolling Stone in June 2020, the same month On Sunset was released, Weller professed that he was already at work on his next LP. “First of all, I’ve been unemployed for [the first time] in 43 years. The tours were all canceled,” Weller said. “But I’m trying to be positive. I’ve spent more time with my kids. I’ve always been writing loads. So I’m trying to just get on with my next record.”
To preview Fat Pop (Volume 1), Weller shared the video for the album’s opening track “Cosmic Fringes.” The album also features guests like Andy Fairweather Low, the Mysterines singer Lia Metcalfe, frequent collaborator Hannah Peel, and Weller’s daughter Leah, who co-wrote and appears on “Shades of Blue.”
Fat Pop (Volume 1) — due out May 14th, just 11 months after On Sunset’s arrival — is available to preorder now in a variety of formats, including a deluxe “Completist’s Set.”
Fat Pop (Volume 1) Tracklist
“Cosmic Fringes”
“True”
“Fat Pop”
“Shades of Blue”
“Glad Times”
“Cobweb / Connections”
“Testify”
“That Pleasure”
“Failed”
“Moving Canvas”
“In Better Times”
“Still Glides the Stream”
From Rolling Stone US
