New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Chicago-based alternative music legend Chris Connelly is back with a new 8-track album. In four decades of making music, since his days with Fini Tribe in Edinburgh, he has consistently pushed the creative envelope, between his involvement in such projects as Ministry, The Revolting Cocks and Pigface, his own solo work (with over 20 releases) and the four books he has authored.
This time, he's onto something quite different - something personal that is rooted firmly in his hometown of Edinburgh, which serves as a backdrop to his latest offering 'The Lives and Loves of the Serial Homesick, Vol. 1'. Here, he explores his roots in impressive sonic fashion. Each CD even comes with its own drawing created by Connelly himself. Connelly did earlier visit Edinburgh from a historical perspective on his recent album 'The Birthday Poems' album, featuring Scottish songstress MonicaQueen (Belle and Sebastian, Thrum).
"This album serves as an impressionistic view of my life in Edinburgh before I moved to the States, leaving behind what I now realize is unfinished business, unresolved aspirations, like a plant viciously ripped out by the roots and thrown away. Following the death of my mother in 2023, I spent time wandering around the streets on my own, trying to place the melancholy, trying to steal back the essence of joy I felt in my late teens/early 20s, and it inevitably led me to write, which is the way I have always been able to answer my own questions," says Connelly.
"There are 8 songs on this album, each rich with strong feelings of then and now, memories that may or may not be accurate, locations, events, friends and lovers. I want the listener to walk with me quietly through endless days and nights, through the streets of Edinburgh in the early 1980s, over the tenement rooftops, up the hills with cans of Red Stripe and a well stoked hash pipe. Sitting in the Wee Red Bar, Bannermans, The Gilded Balloon, or the Royal Circus. Playing endless nights of music with my beloved Fini Tribe, dancing at the Hoochie Coochie Club."
Chris Connelly has also shared the video for the lead track 'Fini Chagall', which was created by Kimberly Blessing and features original footage of Fini Tribe, taken by Angus Cameron in the 1980s.
"Some of these songs are half submerged in dreams, the locations distorted, the colors heightened, the times fluid. If you knew me back then, and we were pals, you are represented, and thanks for the memories. I no longer live there - life and its commitments have me elsewhere - but I miss it badly and have never felt at home anywhere except Edinburgh, where my soul continues to walk the New Town streets and climb the hills," says Connelly.
"All physical copies of this album come with a unique drawing by myself. They are not copies, they are originals in charcoal and pencil of the memories that surround and thrive at the heart of this album. I sat down over a period of time and just drew, it was visceral, emotional, and a lot of fun.'
In 2022, Connelly released 'Eulogy to Christa: A Tribute to the Music & Mystique of Nico', produced by Chris Bruce (Meshell Ndegeocello, Seal, Aaron Neville, Bob Dylan, The Waterboys, Sheryl Crow). This colossal 20-track collection pays homage to The Velvet Underground's iconic muse and one of the most unique, tragic and misunderstood female artists in the history of modern music.
The album is out now via Shipwrecked Industries, available digitally from fine music platforms, including Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon and Bandcamp, where it is also available on CD.
All songs written by Chris Connelly
Chris Connelly - voice, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, sax, percussion, synth, bass, and harmonica
Mastered by James Scott at Populist Recording and Mastering
Recorded at The Rock Noise in September / October 2023
Front cover drawing "Dancing at the Hooch" by Chris Connelly (charcoal and pencil on paper, 2023)
Back cover photograph of the Dean Village by Gillian Whisker
Layout by Kimberly Blessing
Dedicated to the lovers on St. Stephen's
'Fini Chagall' video by Kimberly Blessing. Fini Tribe footage by Angus Cameron
Management: Kimberly Blessing at Shipwrecked Industries
Chris Connelly is published by Bicycle Music/Concord BMI
TRACK LIST:
1. So Long, Ariane 03:25
2. Swords at St. Peter's 03:35
3. Lost to Your Amour 05:50
4. Odeon 04:03
5. The Scars 05:48
6. Fini Chagall 03:59 video
7. Port of St. Catharine 05:54
8. Midnight on the Swansway 05:31
