Paul McCartney to release new album recorded alone in lockdown

From The Guardian.

Paul McCartney is to release a new album made entirely alone during lockdown.

McCartney III, comes out on 11 December and will become the third in a loose trilogy of releases for which he has isolated himself from collaborators, after McCartney in 1970 and McCartney II in 1980.

Recorded at the musician’s home in Sussex, the album’s songs were built from live takes of McCartney singing over guitar or piano accompaniments, and were overdubbed later with his bass guitar and drum parts. “It was about making music for yourself rather than making music that has to do a job,” he says. “I had some stuff I’d worked on over the years but sometimes time would run out and it would be left half finished so I started thinking about what I had. Each day, I’d start recording with the instrument I wrote the song on and then gradually layer it all up. It was a lot of fun.”

The catalyst for the new work was returning to an unreleased song he made in the 1990s with Beatles producer George Martin, When Winter Comes, which closes the album and also inspired another track, Long Tailed Winter Bird.

McCartney has used hallowed equipment including his violin-shaped Hofner bass guitar, a Mellotron from Abbey Road studios used by the Beatles, a double bass that backed Elvis Presley and studio gear from Wings sessions in 1971.

The totally solo home-recording approach is now commonly used by musicians – especially during lockdown – but was unusual in 1970 for the original McCartney album, which was made secretly during the Beatles’ fractious last months. Containing a McCartney classic in Maybe I’m Amazed, it influenced the “lo-fi” style of indie-pop. McCartney II’s skewed electronic pop has also become a cult favourite.

Continue reading on The Guardian website.

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