Malcolm Middleton and David Shrigley team up on new LP
Former Arab Strap man Malcolm Middleton and Turner Prize-nominated artist David Shrigley have joined forces for a new collaborative album entitled Music and Words.
The album combines music from Middleton with absurd and somewhat sweary storytelling scripted by 2013 Turner nominee Shrigley – listen to ‘Story Time’ from the LP in the player below.
The project is not the duo’s first collaboration, with Shrigley providing the cover art for Middleton’s third solo album A Brighter Beat. Introducing the Music and Words project, Shrigley says: “I loved all of the music that Malcolm made. It was just what I wanted, even though I didn’t really know what I wanted.
“Malcolm wrote the first pieces of music in 2007. So the album has taken about 7 years to make. So that means it must be good, right?”
On the task of matching Shrigley's words to music, Middleton says: “I misinterpreted the meaning of David’s words so created a certain style of music to accompany the wrong themes.
"I took one song 'Sunday Morning' to be a scathing attack on the pomp and arrogance of religion, only to be informed that it's just about willies and was recorded on a Sunday morning. It makes for an interesting record though.”
Music and Words is out on CD, limited edition vinyl and download on 15 Dec via Manchester label Melodic, and is available for pre-order now.
Middleton plays full band and acoustic shows at King Tut's in Glasgow on 13 and 14 Dec respectively; Shrigley's new book 'Weak Messages Create Bad Situations' is out this winter via Canongate.
Music and Words tracklisting:
A Toast
Houseguest
Monkeys
Walker
Dear Brain
Caveman
Sunday Morning
Story Time
Help
Touch My Face
The Tree
A Computer
FROM THE ARCHIVE:
5:14 Revisited: Malcolm Middleton reflects on his debut solo album