William Crighton announces his landmark second album, EMPIRE. With EMPIRE, Crighton delivers both ageless and untempered fire and inexhaustible forward momentum.
Produced by established producer and collaborator Matt Sherrod and recorded in a series of evocative settings, EMPIRE expands Crighton’s powerful sound into sprawling new planes and finds the singer-songwriter bringing a cinematographer’s eye for detail to bear on his unique and immersive lyrical style.
Having been described as a visionary and an Australian icon, Crighton doesn’t buy into any of that, humbly and sincerely laughing it off. Discussing the album and compositions of EMPIRE, Crighton says the driving force was “just being here. My 9-year-old daughter says, ‘hope is the one thing that brings us together’, I agree with her and think it could go either way. There’s more and more people realising what’s going on and changing things for the better but on the other hand there’s a lot of greed and crazy out there holding on tight. A few years ago I asked a good mate, a Wiradjuribloke, if he thought a “greatawakening” was coming and he said ‘they’re white fella words, we’ve been living sustainably for 100’s of thousands of years’ – That put me in my place and inspired me beyond measure.”
In 2017, Crighton released 7-inch vinyl ‘Hope Recovery’, accompanied Dan Sultan and CW Stoneking on their respective national tours, and performed to massive crowds at WOMADelaide and Woodford Folk Festival. He showcased at Canadian Music Week, New York City’s Mondo Music Conference and the Folk Alliance International in Kansas City.
Quickly building a reputation as a world-class live performer, Crighton recently completed his debut Canadian tour, alongside JUNO nominated Terra Lightfoot.
EMPIRE sees Crighton expand his study of the human psyche, hard close-ups meet a roving widescreen lens. It is a songbook of breathtaking insight. The flame of the human spiritis, in Crighton’s hands, shown to be the most powerful force at work in 21st Century Australia: one that produces both soot and shadow, but also guiding light, illuminating both the painful past and the difficult path forward along which hope will always chime.
William Crighton will unveil a selection of new songs from EMPIRE together with songs from his stellar self titled debut at Byron Bay Bluesfest over the Easter long weekend, March/April 2018.
EMPIRE, released May 4 on ABC Music/Universal Music Australia
Pre-order HERE
Tracklisting:
1. Fire In The Empire
2. Let Love Come First
3. Devil’s Tongue
4. Happiness
5. Mr Brown
6. Sadness
7. 999
8. Morning Song
9. Julieanne
10. Rejoice
11. Someone
12. The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
