Matt Berry has announced that he’ll be releasing his second album, Kill The Wolf, via Acid Jazz on June 3 – have a listen to LP cut ‘Devil Inside Me’ below:
The LP follows the debut record Berry, well known for his excellent comedic turns in The I.T. Crowd and The Mighty Boosh among others, released on the label, Witchazel, in 2011. Berry recorded the album himself at his home studio, again playing almost all of the instruments barring guest spots from Everything Everything’s James Robert Shaw, The Shins’ Eric Johnson and The Bluetones’ Mark Morris.
Kill The Wolf traverses a similar era to Witchazel, with the text accompanying the announcement stating: "Matt’s music and lyrics abound with particularly English references, shot through with the hazy bleached out colours of late 60s/early 70s psych-rock whilst avoiding either tribute or pastiche". That Englishness is well-exemplified by a leaning towards some folk cuts, particularly evidenced on the brilliantly pastoral opening track, ‘Gather Up’, built around a litany of chanted herbs and plants. Elsewhere, the album, which Berry explains is about "the devil and the saint inside us all, and how hard we try to let the best man win, whomever you may consider that to be", has a centrepiece in the nine-minute ‘Solstice’, "musically tracking the distance from the shortest to the longest day".
Berry’s on tour in advance of the album’s release, and will be playing his first festival date at Green Man this summer. For more details, head to Berry’s website and have a look at the dates below:
MAY
Sun 12 – Fleece & Firkin, Bristol
Mon 13 – Sub 89, Reading
Tue 14 – Kazimier, Liverpool
Wed 15 – Ruby Lounge, Manchester
Thu 16 – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Sat 18 – Islington Academy, London
AUGUST
Thu 15 – Sun 18 – Green Man festival, Black Mountain, Wales
