News: Ben Montague Announces New Album ‘Back Into Paradise’ And Tour Dates
2 min read
(UK) Ben Montague: impassioned songwriter, crowd-pleasing touring artist, eternal optimist and acclaimed custom guitar business co-owner, has penned his most lyrically raw and moving, anthemic and beautifully produced second album ‘Back Into Paradise’, released on his own label MWM Ltd on 15th June, through Absolute via Universal.
Sat in The North American Guitar Studio, Montague is as passionate about his playing as he is about the album’s lyrics. He’s no Metallica-style shredder, but the spare quality of his playing emphasises the luscious vocals throughout “Back Into Paradise”, which leads the singles off the album. “This was the track that defined the direction I wanted to take with the album. It is a ‘wedge’ of a song, and builds and builds, until it is a mountain of sound by the end. But it’s got a weird construction in terms of song-writing. It was a natural choice to open the album because it’s so exciting. And it’s a good name for the album because it says that, yes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
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The album was the result of a process of self-belief and affirmation. Writing what should have been a song for another artist with writing partners Jez Ashurst (Gabrille Aplin, Will Young) and Charlie Grant (Simply Red, Melanie C), Montague found the lyrics for the first of the 10 songs, the searing, emotional “We Start Over” flooding out. Montague’s partner in crime on “Back Into Paradise” is producer Peter-John Vettese, the singer’s ‘secret hero’ for his programming and arrangement work with Paul McCartney, Pet Shop Boys, Dido and Annie Lennox as well as co-writing with Sia, Tom Odell and James Bay.
The overall narrative of the album is about finding a reason to start again and the redemptive power music can offer. In the track “Gonna Love Again”, it initially seems a beautiful melody about recovering from heartbreak. But, as Montague smilingly puts it: “It’s about me putting my arm around my only-slightly-younger self and saying it’s all going to work out fine. It’s me falling in love with making music again.”
UK Tour Dates
1 October – London St Pancras Old Church | TICKETS
2 October – Poole, Mr Kyps | TICKETS
4 October – Southampton, Brook | TICKETS
8 October – Newcastle, Cluny | TICKETS
9 October- Edinburgh, Sneaky Petes | TICKETS
10 October – Glasgow, King Tuts | TICKETS
11 October – Manchester, Ruby Lounge | TICKETS
17 October – East Grinstead, Chequer Meads | TICKETS
22 October – Swindon, The Vic | TICKETS
23 October – Birmingham, Glee | TICKETS
24 October – Bristol, Louisiana | TICKETS
25 October – Leicester, Musician | TICKETS
For more information click here.
