Gruff Rhys has revealed the second track ‘Silver Lining Lead Balloons’ taken from his 25th Album Sadness Sets Me Free which is released by Rough Trade Records on 26th of January 2024. Watch the video below.
Gruff on his new track: “Its about facing reality and not trying to overstate something that isn’t all that. But it’s deadpan. I’m not being totally serious. At the end I’m singing “I left my dreams in a rental car”, which is quite a pathetic image, and then its followed by the last lines, “Live for now/ and dream afar”. The version of me that’s singing it is quite a road-worn character – literally. I’d been driving around Europe in a van, with war starting out. So maybe that mindset.”
Another elegiacally beautiful track by Rhys, wrapped in wonderous strings and sprinkled with his deadpan and wry approach to the madness of our world. The track is accompanied by a shimmering visual that compliments the care-worn wonderment of the music. Gruff and his band perform on a series of sold-out dates through 2024 across the UK, Europe and USA.
In a career that has taken him from the slate-mining towns of north-west Wales, down to the expat communities of Patagonia, up to the Mandan tribe of the Great Plains of North America and across to the Tuareg rock groups of the Saharan Desert, Gruff Rhys, one of Britain’s most beloved and successful singer-songwriters, has always been willing to follow an opportunity, wherever it may lead him. “At this point I quite like working with serendipity,” he says. “Not in a cosmic way, [but] I try and leave things open to chance encounters and chance geography. As I’m around 25 albums in I’m always looking for ways to make a different-sounding record”
UK / EURO TOUR DATES
December 1st – Glasgow Barrowlands w/ The Coral
December 2nd – Liverpool Olympia w/ The Coral
January 26th – 1st February – UK Instore Tour
February 2nd – Aberystwyth, Arts Centre
February 7th – London, Kings Place (Sold Out)
February 8th – London, Kings Place
February 10th – Manchester, New Century Hall (Sold Out)
February 14th – Belfast, Empire Music Hall
February 15th – Dublin, Sugar Club (Sold Out)
February 16th – Dublin, Sugar Club
February 19th – Glasgow, St Lukes
February 22nd – Bristol, Strange Brew (Sold Out)
February 23rd – Bristol, Strange Brew
February 24th – Narberth, Queens Hall.
February 28th – Berlin, Badehaus
February 29th – Hamburg, Nachtasyl
March 2nd – Koln, Theater De Wogngemeinschaft
March 3rd – Amsterdam, Zonzij
Photo – credit: Mark James
