Today, Hayden Thorpe is happy to unveil “Metafeeling”, the latest single from his upcoming second solo album Moondust For My Diamond – due October 15th via Domino.
“Metafeeling” follows the previously shared songs “Parallel Kingdom” and “The Universe Is Always Right”. As with those two tracks, the video for “Metafeeling” is directed by Percy Dean and filmed in The Lake District showcasing the spectacular scenery of Thorpe’s home as he plays guitar in his equally spectacular suit. That Hagstrom Viking baritone guitar is central to Moondust For My Diamond, Hayden bought it in Brooklyn on Valentine’s Day 2019 and explains: “if the piano was my totem instrument for ‘Diviner’ then this guitar became the amulet for the new record.”.
Talking about “Metafeeling”, Thorpe says: “I was feeling inspired by studies into the potential healing properties of psilocybin mushrooms in psychotherapy. I signed up to a flagship programme in the Netherlands as I wanted to explore consciousness in a safe way. The line ‘whatever was was, now what is is’ came to me and distilled much of what I had experienced during that time.”
In contrast to Diviner, a critically acclaimed album steeped in solitude and fragility, Moondust For My Diamond moves into a more natural visual and sonic palette. He’s interested in, he says, “the meeting point between science and religion, the grand struggle for reality that shapes so much of our time.” Thorpe has made an album that is galvanizing, reassuring, elegant, seductive: it oozes Big Cosmic Energy.
“What about nature? What about the cosmos? What about all these things that break through the tyranny of the self? Our sense organs bring the world inside of us after all, I just had to sing it back out. I was enchanted again with the mystery of science and how I might speak from the heart in an age where metric is gospel.” Moondust… comes as the by-product of a coping mechanism: exploring the worlds of digital mysticism, and the need to melt down reality and recast it when so much feels so unreal.
The pastoral evolution of last year’s Aerial Songs EP hinted at an expanding palette that reflected Thorpe’s return to The Lake District, the natural environment he grew up surrounded by. These additional influences seep into Moondust…, along with Hayden’s involvement with Wavepaths, a pioneering project integrating music into psychedelic therapy, plus ‘hybrid’ gigs and breath workshops with pioneering breath practitioner Richie Bostock. It’s those surrenders, experiments and collaborations that make this such an enticing, sensory, soul-expanding album.
The technicolour production on Moondust For My Diamond brings Hayden together for the first time with cult innovator Nathan Jenkins (Bullion) as well as long-time collaborator Richard Formby, with mastering by Heba Kadry.
Hayden Thorpe will be touring with Jon Hopkins in November.
7 NOV - Brussels. BE @ Cirque Royal w/ Jon Hopkins
16 NOV - Den Haag, NL @ Amare w/ Jon Hopkins
