Paul Kelly Announces New Album and Shares First Single 'Taught by Experts'

Containing 12 tracks, Fever Longing Still is Kelly’s first album of originals since 2018s Nature.

Image by Joe Brennan

Aussie icon and all-around good guy Paul Kelly has announced he’s dropping his 27th album, Fever Longing Still, on Friday, November 1 via EMI Music Australia.

This is Kelly’s first album of original material since 2018s Nature and contains 12 brand spanking new tunes, including first single, ‘Taught By Experts’. In a press release about the track, Kelly admits it’s one he’s been trying to master for 30 years.

“I have been circling that song for years,” Kelly says. “We thought we should try it with a chiming electric guitar part, and when we did that, we knew that was it.”

You can watch the Siân Darling and Ben McFadyen directed music video for ‘Taught By Experts’ below.

Fever Longing Still takes its name from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 147 and is inspired by love, although that’s not something Kelly planned on writing about going into the recording sessions.

“I never know what the themes are until I am in the middle of doing a record,” Kelly explains about the new album. “I don’t set out with an album in mind. Over the past 20 years I just get the band together and put down a batch of songs. I put them in what I call my odd-socks drawer on the computer and as they accumulate I see which ones work together.

“There has been a long gap since the last album of new songs and I realise now that this record is a bit like Gossip, an album with a long gestation where the songs are all quite different to each other in style.”

Those involved in the recording of Fever Longing Still include Kelly’s longtime bandmembers Peter Luscombe (drums), Dan Kelly (guitar) and Bill McDonald (bass) alongside relative newcomers Cameron Bruce (keys) and Ash Naylor (guitar).

Fever Longing Still is out November 1 via EMI Music Australia. You can pre-save/pre-order the album here. Check out the album artwork and tracklisting below.

Fever Longing Still

1. Houndstooth Dres

2. Love Has Made a Fool of Me

3. Taught by Experts

4. Hello Melancholy, Hello Joy

5. Northern Rivers

6. Double Business Bound

7. Let’s Work It Out in Bed

8. All Those Smiling Faces

9. Harpoon to the Heart

10. Back to the Future

11. Eight Hours Sleep

12. Going to the River with Dad

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