Paul Weller has announced details of his 12th solo album, Saturn’s Pattern. Described by the Jam frontman as “defiantly 21st century”, it follows 2012’s Sonik Kicks, and last year’s singles collection, More Modern Classics.
While still hailed as a bastion of mod culture, Weller’s solo ventures have often experimented with a variety of different genres: double album 22 Dreams explored folk, Wake Up the Nation dabbled in electronica, and Sonik Kicks, his 11th solo album, was described by the artist as “modern psychedelic music”.
Featured in the new issue of Uncut, the artist described the recording process of his latest album: while still based around the guitar, bass and keyboard, Weller said that his latest creation is “certainly progressive in the literal sense of the word”. Saturn’s Pattern features a “kazoo through a fuzzbox” and was recorded with his usual bandmates Steve Cradock and Andy Lewis, and members of psychedelic jazz group Syd Arthur.
On his more progressive methods of production, Weller added: “We used Pro-Tools as well. The whole editing on that is fucking brilliant. Some of the possibilities, you couldn’t do it with tape, it would take years to do. But I think we used that to capacity, in a good way. So we just tried different sections then inserted them into [track I’m Where I Should Be], just built the arrangement up and then put a melody on it and the lyrics.”
To coincide with its release, scheduled for spring 2015 via Parlophone. Paul Weller will also tour the UK in March, performing a string of shows in “towns often overlooked by other bands”.