Pete Murray Shares Single ‘Amy’, Announces New Album
Longing will be Pete Murray’s eighth studio album.
Image Ian Laidlaw
Currently halfway through his massive headline solo Australian tour, Pete Murray has shared new single ‘Amy’, the latest taste of his upcoming eighth album, Longing (presave here and preorder here).
‘Amy’, a light acoustic guitar ballad with keys and synths, features the talents of Luke Palmer (Boo Seeka, Dead Letter Circus) and offers an insight into Murray’s new direction as an artist.
“‘Amy’ is about someone really special,” Murray reveals. “I feel ‘Amy’ has a different flavour to what I have recorded before. The backbeat rhythm on the acoustic guitar is what really makes it different. I also don’t use a 4 on the floor beat under any of my songs but this works with ‘Amy’. It’s kind of hypnotic with the acoustic, snare and beat working together and when the keys solo hits in the breakdown, it’s the best!”
Dropping October 3, Longing contains ‘Amy’ along with the previously released singles ‘Wouldn’t It Be Good’, ‘I Am Fire’ and ‘Home To Me’.
“I spend a lot of time in the studio and have a folder on my computer called ‘Unfinished’,” explains Murray. “As the years went by, I kept adding to this folder and I kept slowly working some of my favourites in the folder. I would get an old session up and work on it some more then put it away again (sometimes for years). After a little while, I had a bunch of songs that really sounded like a great, cohesive body of work.”
“I’m all about trying to write an album that people love from start to finish. An album that means something special to someone. You can only make an album like this with time. My first album Feeler was written over the same period of time, about 10 years. I feel there are very similar qualities on Longing as there are on Feeler.”
Those who preorder the album go in the running for Murray’s epic ‘Longing For A Trip To Byron’ competition. The winner will win a trip to Byron Bay with a mate, including free flights, two nights accommodation at the luxurious Elements of Byron Bay resort and a couple of VIP tickets to Pete’s exclusive album launch show at the Brunswick Heads Hotel. If that’s not enough, the lucky winner and their friend will get to hang with Murray and the band after the show for a special VIP experience. All you have to do to be in the running is preorder the album via petemurray.bandtshirts.com.au and then submit the order number before the promotion period ends at 11.59am AEST on September 4.
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For a former rugby player, Pete Murray has done alright for himself as a musician. The singer-songwriter has amassed over 1.2 million album sales, hundreds of millions of streams and a whopping 17 ARIA Award nominations!
His career includes seven studio albums, three of which came in at #1 on the ARIA Album Charts (Feeler, See the Sun, Summer at Eureka), and a host of charting singles, including ‘Better Days’, ‘Feeler’, ‘Opportunity’ and ‘So Beautiful’.
Murray’s forthcoming album Longing is his first as an independent artist in two decades. “It’s a great feeling to be independent again after 20 years,” explains Murray.
“My last independent album release was The Game in 2001. I think it’s fantastic owning my own masters again. I didn’t realise how important it was to own masters 20 years ago, but you live and learn and now it’s all about recording great music that is powerful and means something special to someone and also that I own with music.
“Creating an album that is great from start to finish has been my goal for this new album, Longing. I feel like I have achieved this, but the punters will be the real test to see if they feel the same.”
‘Amy’ by Pete Murray is out now. Longing arrives October 3 and can be pre-saved here and pre-ordered here.
