Well, not actually silent for a decade, but rather it has been that long, and more, since the last album of new material and that overlong wait for a new album is over. Well, not actually over, but the new release is at least on the horizon. We’ve already featured one song from it, the first single ‘Rats‘, but we can now pass on the information that ‘Flying With Angels’ is due May 2nd on Cooking Vinyl and the record was produced by Vega’s long-time collaborator and guitarist Gerry Leonard. Harking back to the write up on that single we were bemoaning the lack of UK dates on Vega’s next tour – well, we can now tell you that it is all fixed up and there will be UK dates after all. We never realised the power we wielded – but rely on us, we’ll only use it for good. There will be two noteworthy guests on the tour – the very fine Kathrine Priddy and the powerful cellist Stephanie Winters, whom you may recall from Richie Haven’s touring trio (along with guitarist Walter Parks). The dates are below.
The album is topical, and speaking of the new album Suzanne Vega said “Each song on the album takes place in an atmosphere of struggle. Struggle to survive, to speak, to dominate, to win, to escape, to help someone else, or just live.” This is emphasized by the album’s new single “Speakers’ Corner” which acknowledges the increasingly political nature of communication today, when the ability to speak one’s mind is easier than ever on social media, and yet that privilege is often misused. Vega elaborates on that theme saying: “That’s something you don’t want in democracy: the shutting down of the Speakers’ Corner where people get a say. This is a moment in time when people are saying a lot, but sometimes they’re not making sense or not telling the truth. People should be accountable for what they say. They can’t just lie. One would think that that would be self-evident.“
Indeed, although as Swift (Jonathan, not Taylor) noted: “if a Lie be believ’d only for an Hour, it has done its Work, and there is no farther occasion for it. Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it; so that when Men come to be undeceiv’d, it is too late.“
SUZANNE VEGA – UK TOUR DATES
October 19—Gateshead—Sage Gateshead (The Glasshouse Int’l Centre for Music)
October 20—Manchester—Bridgewater Hall
October 21—Glasgow—Royal Concert Hall
October 23—Edinburgh—Usher Hall
October 25—Liverpool—Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
October 27—Cambridge—Corn Exchange
October 28—Brighton—Dome
October 30—Bristol—Bristol Beacon
October 31—Birmingham—Symphony Hall
November 1—Stoke—Regent Theatre
November 3—London—Royal Albert Hall
