Morrissey's label-less days are apparently behind him, with news surfacing that the moody popsmith is re-teaming with Universal Records to deliver his previously hinted-at new album, which will arrive in 2014 via the major label's Harvest imprint.
A press release confirms Moz's attachment to Harvest, of which the vocalist is apparently "thrilled." It also adds that he and his longtime live band of guitarists Boz Boorer and Jesse Tobias, bassist Solomon Walker, drummer Matthew Walker and keyboard player Gustavo Manzur will be heading out to France later this month to record the album with producer Joe Chiccarelli.
Few details were given beyond that, but the as-yet-untitled record is slated to arrive in the second half of this year. The singer also recently reported that he had written a song called "Istanbul" for the set, which will be his first proper solo LP since 2009's Years of Refusal.
"It is second to Rome as my most favourite city in the world," he said of the new tune's titular locale. "When I'm in Istanbul I feel as if I could never die. My life is matched. I have been trying to book the Istanbul Opera House, and I long to play Ankara, Izmir and Bursa, but local promoters say I am not well-known enough."
While Morrissey's deal with Harvest brings him back to the Universal stable (Years of Refusal had been delivered via Lost Highway/Universal), the move comes after a recent Q&A session that had him criticizing the major label business model. He also claimed his music doesn't fit in with the current fickle pop climate.
"The actuality is that radio stations will not play my music, and the majority of people have lost faith in the music industry," he said on True to You, "and it's generally assumed — quite rightly — that the number one chart positions are 'bought' by the major labels, so there really is no passion left in pop or rock music, and I don't think people believe for an instant that the faces we constantly see on television and in magazines are remotely popular."
A press release confirms Moz's attachment to Harvest, of which the vocalist is apparently "thrilled." It also adds that he and his longtime live band of guitarists Boz Boorer and Jesse Tobias, bassist Solomon Walker, drummer Matthew Walker and keyboard player Gustavo Manzur will be heading out to France later this month to record the album with producer Joe Chiccarelli.
Few details were given beyond that, but the as-yet-untitled record is slated to arrive in the second half of this year. The singer also recently reported that he had written a song called "Istanbul" for the set, which will be his first proper solo LP since 2009's Years of Refusal.
"It is second to Rome as my most favourite city in the world," he said of the new tune's titular locale. "When I'm in Istanbul I feel as if I could never die. My life is matched. I have been trying to book the Istanbul Opera House, and I long to play Ankara, Izmir and Bursa, but local promoters say I am not well-known enough."
While Morrissey's deal with Harvest brings him back to the Universal stable (Years of Refusal had been delivered via Lost Highway/Universal), the move comes after a recent Q&A session that had him criticizing the major label business model. He also claimed his music doesn't fit in with the current fickle pop climate.
"The actuality is that radio stations will not play my music, and the majority of people have lost faith in the music industry," he said on True to You, "and it's generally assumed — quite rightly — that the number one chart positions are 'bought' by the major labels, so there really is no passion left in pop or rock music, and I don't think people believe for an instant that the faces we constantly see on television and in magazines are remotely popular."
