Paul Simon is marking a return to music with the new opus “Seven Psalms,” described as a “33-minute, seven-movement all-acoustic composition.”
The project, due out May 19, was reportedly made with the intention to be listened to in its entirety.
The heavily-lauded singer-songwriter behind “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Kodachrome” and “You Can Call Me Al,” announced the opus on Wednesday alongside a promotional trailer describing its inspiration as a dream he had a few years ago.
“The dream was so strong that I got up and I wrote it down, but I had no idea what that meant,” Simon, 81, says in the clip. “Gradually, information would come ... and words would come. I’d write ‘em down and start to put it together.”
Produced by Simon and Kyle Crusham, the opus is described in the announcement as “a stunning, intricately layered work” that establishes “an engaging and meditative, almost hymnal soundscape, with Paul’s lyrics providing the gravitational center for constellations of sound woven from guitar strings and other acoustic instrumentation.”
Predominantly performed by Simon, songs with titles such as “The Lord,” “Your Forgiveness” and “The Sacred Harp” are originally hymns meant to be sung rather than spoken.
The seven-track project feature collaborations with Grammy Award-winning jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, British vocal ensemble VOCES8 and Simon’s wife, singer Edie Brickell.
Simon, a Newark, New Jersey, native, is a 12-time Grammy Award winner.
In December 2022, he was the subject of a televised “Grammy Salutes” tribute, which featured the likes of Stevie Wonder, Sting, Bonnie Raitt, Billy Porter and Ledisi singing 10 of his 14 top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits.
In 2021, Sony Music Publishing announced that it had acquired the prolific songwriter’s publishing library, which spans six decades. That reportedly includes his work with his former musical partner Art Garfunkel from 1964 through 1970, as well as Simon’s solo recordings.
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