On-again, off-again Britpop outfitВ THE VERVEВ broke up, for the third time, in 2009, following their excellent comeback album Forth.
Bummer. But the split is bittersweet: The band’s talented frontman Richard Ashcroft has seized the opportunity to release a genre-blending solo album under the nom de tune United Nations of Sound!
Richard Ashcroft – his collabo with hip-hop producer No I.D. (Kanye West, Jay-Z, Drake) – drops March 22, but SPIN scored an exclusive sneak peek with the premiere of ‘America.’ Listen HERE!
The track mixes synths and electric guitar flourishes with a pumping hip-hop beat and swelling strings courtesy of arranger Benjamin Wright (Gladys Knight, Barry White). While the music veers into new territory for Ashcroft, his lyrics maintain a mystical world-weariness.
“For all the men who ever died / Trying to keep my soul alive,” he sings in a nicotine-stained tone grittier than his most famous vocal performance in “Bittersweet Symphony.”
Read teh entire lyricsВ at this location.
