NEW YORK, NY. (Top40 Charts/ Rykodisc) - Rykodisc is pleased to announce the release of "What Is Love For," the debut solo album from Justin Currie, the founder and voice of Scottish pop band Del Amitri. The stunning new album will be available on October 23, 2007.
Thought by many to be a significantly underrated songwriter, Justin Currie's new album may prove to be his crowning jewel, with positive early press reaction from such notable publications as MOJO, USA Today, and Q already rolling in. In addition, radio performances on XM's popular show "The Loft" on November 19th and a "Mountain Stage" performance with Suzanne Vega on December 2nd have been confirmed.
Justin recently performed a few special "warm-up" shows in the U.S. (New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles) and is looking forward to performing more stateside shows later this year. Meanwhile, a U.K. tour in support of "What Is Love For" kicks off on October 13th in his native Scotland and continues through the end of the month.
"What Is Love For" features 11 Currie compositions whose pensive meditations on love's darker margins are supported by spare, organic arrangements. Such numbers as "If I Ever Loved You," "Not So Sentimental Now," "Where Did I Go?" and the haunting title track confront their thorny subject matter with a compelling blend of hard-won insight and pointed humor. Currie plays a multitude of instruments on the album (acoustic guitar, piano, bass, electric guitar, synth and organ) alongside a collection of players including Currie's longtime Del Amitri partner Iain Harvie and fellow Del Amitri alumnus Andy Alston.
Currie comments on the recording, "More than anything, I think that these songs represent the end of my youth. I wanted to allow my world-weariness to roam unchecked. And I wanted to be straight about love - about how I can't explain it, control it or figure it out. I thought, this is how I feel so let's see if any other folk out there feel the same thing."
Justin Currie is eagerly embracing new creative challenges with "What Is Love For." "For me, the song 'What Is Love For?' sums up this record in that it's ostensibly bleak, but underneath there's a Morse code melody that's telling you something else. It's my Scottish romanticism, heavily clothed in a shrug of resignation. The Scots believe that life is pitiless and harsh, but that deep inside us all, there's a churning sea of desire and optimism that's usually suppressed by drink, stoicism and bravado."
