The iconic blues master Robin Trower releases his new album, Shine, today via Provogue / Artone Label Group. To go along with the release, he has dropped the lyric video for Faith.
The redemptive mood of Faith reflects a lyric about a lost soul pulled out of a hole by an act of love. The slow brooding blues number sees bassist/singer Richard Watts emotive voice weave the story of faith and love finding its rightful place.
Talking about the song, Trower says, “Faith is a very positive thing, quite unusual for me. I’m writing it from the point of view of someone who was lost, down, in a bit of a hole, speaking about someone who came along and pulled that person out of that hole.”
Ask Robin Trower to explain his late-period creative burst and the legendary British guitarist can only shrug: “I think you’ve either got to keep pushing – or give up.”
Now 81, with a mythology that spans from the clubs of Swinging London, to Procol Harum, through 1974’s gold-selling Bridge Of Sighs and onward into a vital post-millennial solo catalogue, the veteran bluesman’s place amongst the all-time greats is beyond doubt.
Yet while his ’60s peers have long softened into greatest-hits autopilot, this restless artist still starts each morning the same way: stood in his workroom with a battle-scarred signature Strat, hunting down the magic note that will spark his next song. “Then I’ll wake up in the middle of the night,” he smiles, “with a line for the lyric.”
Shine is worthy of the name: an album that shimmers with possibility and crackles with vintage Trower power. “It’s great to get that energy back off an audience,” he considers, “but I just love recording too. It’s always fun, you know? Playing guitar: that’s what I do, and that’s what I love.”
Self-producing while handling guitar and bass, the veteran was confident enough to delegate key duties to his trusty studio band, with drummer Chris Taggart driving the new material and long-standing vocalist Richard Watts articulating each emotion. “The strength of his vocals, the beauty of his vocal tone – he’s so musical,” considers Trower. “I usually write with Richard in mind. I can hear it all in my head.”
The first single Live Your Time’s soul-funk riffing heats the valves in Trower’s Marshall stack. “The opening riff of Live Your Time is one of the best things I’ve ever come up with,” he says. “ It’s always very loud in the studio, and that’s how you get the tone, by cranking the amp. That’s another song where I’m saying, ‘Calm down, it’s all going to work out. Just get the most out of your life.’”
Keep pushing or give up? It should be obvious which path Robin Trower has taken – and Shine is the latest thrilling evidence of a songwriter who chooses to forge ahead rather than rest on his laurels. “Really, if I have a gift,” he concludes, “it’s probably that I come up with ideas. Ideas for songs, ideas for lead work. Certainly, that’s what keeps me going. It’s just so exciting to see something blossoming into a new song.
Trower is currently on tour in the USA. which will run through to 14 October. You can see a full list of tour dates HERE.
Track listing
1. The Missing Piece
2. Shine
3. Love By Any Other Name
4. Live Your Time,
5. Faith
6. Driving Through
7. Truth
8. The Race
9. Without You
10. It’s Not Time
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