Gruff Rhys Announces ’Seeking New Gods’ Album

Gruff Rhys will release his new album “Seeking New Gods” on 21.5.2021. This will be Gruff’s seventh solo album. “Seeking New Gods” was recorded following a US tour with his band and mixed in LA with superstar producer Mario C (Beastie Boys). 

The album concept was originally driven to be the biography of a mountain, Mount Paektu (an East Asian active volcano). However, as Gruff’s writing began to reflect on the inhuman timescale of a peak’s existence and the intimate features that bring it to mythological life, both the songs and the mountain became more and more personal. Gruff says “The album is about people and the civilisations, and the spaces people inhabit over periods of time. How people come and go but the geology sticks around and changes more slowly. I think it’s about memory and time,” he suggests of Seeking New Gods’ meaning. “It’s still a biography of a mountain, but now it’s a Mount Paektu of the mind. You won’t learn much about the real mountain from listening to this record but you will feel something, hopefully.”

The typically beautiful art direction is by Mark James and there are various versions of the record to choose from, including a very special Dinked Edition with a Mountain Die Cut envelope-style sleeve with a Belly band, pressed on 2 colour Splatter Vinyl, hand numbered and includes a Flexi Disc featuring a bonus song and 10” signed print. The standard LP edition also has the Mountain Die Cut envelope-style sleeve, Belly band and is pressed on dark green vinyl. If you order from the Rough Trade Webstore you’ll receive a signed postcard and lyric poster (limited availability). 

Gruff has also shared a video for lead single ’Loan Your Loneliness’, directed by Mark James. Gruff says that the video “narrative being that a soloing guitarist accidentally invented colour TV with sheer exuberance!”. Watch here and listen the single here. 

Part of Gruff’s creative remit has always been about pushing the boundaries of how music presented and performed, starting with the quadrophonic sound system tours as part of Super Furry Animals. For this record, Gruff has partnered with the BBC’s R&D department to make use of their Audio Orchestrator technology to create an at-home, multi-device immersive listening experience for fans. It will be the first time the BBC has offered this technology for use with an album. Full details including fan listening events will be announced soon. 

Order now or Pre-Save now.