New Model Army founder and singer/songwriter Justin Sullivan has shared “Unforgiven,” the third single from his new studio album Surrounded. It’s his second solo album — and first in 18 years. Surrounded is out digitally on May 28 via earMUSIC. The physical release date is July 23. Pre-order it here.
Listen “Unforgiven” here.
“I have always been most drawn to the combination of violence and beauty in art because that seems to be the underlying truth of nature and the way I perceive the world to be — and almost everything I write is underpinned by nature imagery,” says Sullivan. “Sometimes I visit a place where the atmosphere and the ghosts from the past seem to overwhelm anything happening in the present. I reach for a notebook and put down every impression that comes — stories, light, weather, geography, and that strange feeling of time being completely liquid. With ‘Unforgiven,’ I found all these sketched ideas back at home many months later and then it’s just a question of remembering the feelings of the place, what happened and piecing it together.”
The result is emotional and awe-inspiring.
“Musically, I went round the houses a bit with this one, trying to choose how much and what instrumentation to use,” Sullivan shares. “In the end, I decided to keep the simple guitar riffs that runs through the song quite prominent and added Jon Thorne’s bass, Henning Nugel’s orchestration, and minimal percussion so it has some of the vastness and hard beauty of the landscape described and an undercurrent of the violence that the place has seen.”
Surrounded is a collection of 16 new songs written in the first weeks of the 2020 lockdown. These songs are again stunning guitar and vocal compositions highlighting Sullivan’s love of storytelling, wide open landscapes, and unforgettable atmospheres.
Mostly recorded at home, Surrounded also features contributions from many other musicians including Jon Thorne on bass (Lamb), Tom Moth (Florence and the Machine and brother of NMA bassist Ceri Monger) on harp, plus string arrangements from composer friends Tobias Unterberg, Henning Nügel, and Shir-Ran Yinon. Also featured are the current members of New Model Army. The album was mixed by Lee Smith, co-producer and mixer of New Model Army’s recent albums, including 2019’s From Here, at Greenmount Studios in Leeds.
SURROUNDED TRACK LISTING:
“DIRGE”
“AMUNDSEN“
“COMING WITH ME”
“CLEAN HORIZON“
“STONE AND HEATHER”
“28TH MAY”
“AKISTAN”
“UNFORGIVEN”
“SAO PAULO”
“1975”
“SEA AGAIN”
“CLEAR SKIES”
“RIP TIDES”
“DAUGHTER OF THE SUN”
“RIDE”
“SURROUNDED”