Sting will release a new album, The Bridge, on November 19th via A&M/Interscope/Cherrytree Records. The musician has previewed the release with a breezy, upbeat new single, “If It’s Love.”
“I’m certainly not the first songwriter to equate falling in or out of love with an incurable sickness, nor will I be the last,” Sting said in a statement. “’’f It’s Love’ is my addition to that canon where the tropes of metaphorical symptoms, diagnosis, and downright incapacity are all familiar enough to make each of us smile ruefully.”
The Bridge was written during the pandemic and finds Sting “ruminating on personal loss, separation, disruption, lockdown, and extraordinary social and political turmoil,” according to the press release.
“These songs are between one place and another, between one state of mind and another, between life and death, between relationships,” Sting noted. “Between pandemics, and between eras – politically, socially and psychologically, all of us are stuck in the middle of something. We need a bridge.”
The songs on The Bridge were produced by Sting and Martin Kierszenbaum, except “Loving You” produced by Sting, Maya Jane Coles and Martin Kierszenbaum. The album was mixed by Robert Orton, engineered by Donal Hodgson and Tony Lake, and mastered by Gene Grimaldi at Oasis Mastering.
It features numerous musicians, including Dominic Miller (guitar), Josh Freese (drums), Branford Marsalis (saxophone), Manu Katché (drums), Martin Kierszenbaum (keyboards), Fred Renaudin (synthesizer) and backing vocalists Melissa Musique, Gene Noble, Jo Lawry and Laila Biali.
The Bridge will be released in multiple formats, including standard and deluxe CD and vinyl, Japanese Exclusive standard and deluxe albums, all digital streaming and download platforms, as well as a music cassette. The deluxe CD and vinyl will include bonus tracks “Waters of Tyne,” “Captain Bateman’s Basement,” and “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay.” Both Japanese exclusives will be on SHM-CD including the additional bonus track “I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City,” while the deluxe version will also include a DVD with an interview and track by track discussion with Sting, as well as music videos for “If It’s Love” and “Rushing Water.”
The Bridge is available to pre-order here.
The Bridge Track Listing:
1. Rushing Water
2. If It’s Love
3. The Book of Numbers
4. Loving You
5. Harmony Road
6. For Her Love
7. The Hills on the Border
8. Captain Bateman
9. The Bells of St. Thomas
10. The Bridge
11. Waters of Tyne (Deluxe bonus track)
12. Captain Bateman’s Basement (Deluxe bonus track)
13. (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay (Deluxe bonus track)
*(Japanese exclusive bonus track)
14. I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City
From Rolling Stone US
