R&B groover “Earth Beat” includes vocals from teenage singer Col3trane - a friend of Weller’s daughter - and the percussive “More” includes French verses courtesy of Julie Gros of Le SuperHomard. On the bluesy, Beatles-esque “Equanimity,” for example, he conjured a mournful violin solo that was then performed by Slade bassist Jim Lea. He then goes out and finds the musician who can replicate it. “I often think of a certain sound as we’re cutting the track,” he says. Weller sees himself as a literal mastermind when it comes to his art. “I’m just obsessed with music,” he says, before gushing about Kevin Haynes, an Afro-Cuban jazz artist whose 2008 album Ajo Se Po has been on repeat at his London home. (He says that some songs that didn’t make the cut for On Sunset will appear on his next record.) That song ushers the listeners into the eclectic LP on a cosmic wave as Weller asks, “Mirrorball, when will you spin?/Light up the room and our lives begin.”īut On Sunset isn’t all of a piece - it’s a wide-ranging melange of electronic, soul, pop, and orchestral music that highlights Weller’s hunger for new sounds. He turned his attention to On Sunset after completing 2018’s True Meanings, daisy-chaining the two together by including B side “Mirrorball” as the opener for his new album. This level of productivity isn’t entirely out of character for Weller. So I’m trying to just get on with my next record.” “First of all, I’ve been unemployed for in 43 years,” he says. Despite the music industry grinding to a halt in the wake of COVID-19 - his 2020 tour dates moved to 2021, and his album was pushed back three weeks - the former Jam singer can’t stop conducting the orchestras in his head. Paul Weller’s new solo album On Sunset is out this Friday, but he’s already hard at work on the next one.

Paul weller songs