Ed Harcourt

following two decadently composed instrumental albums, ed returns the vocal string to his bow, on this widescreen wonderland of indelible songwriting, soul-stirring melodies & sumptuous baroque pop arrangements.

for over two decades now, harcourt has created music that blends raw emotions, impeccable composition & visionary flights of imagination. a succession of rich, enthralling albums precede his latest treasure. after 2016’s evocative ‘furnaces’, ed then moved to explore the instrumental sphere with recent, overwhelmingly emotive & cinematic soundscape albums, ‘beyond the end’ & ‘monochrome to colour’.

‘el magnifico’ is a distillation of everything he has learned & experienced over the last twenty years. consistently inspired by the power of collaboration, as a writer, producer &, often, one-man backing band, he has aided an endless array of musical visions, from the likes of afghan whigs, lissie, jamie cullum, the libertines & marianne faithfull, through to his work with filmmakers, scoring movies & documentaries, as well as his tenure with the gloriously louche, sonically hard-bitten rock trio, loup garoux.

with that array of creativity fizzing behind him, harcourt enjoys a spectrum-spanning number of outlets of expression, ensuring his bountiful creativity & cascading of ideas always find an appropriately unique home. & the sweeping, opulent & ever inventive ‘el magnifico’ is the beneficiary of this immense scope & musical insight.

The album’s first four songs – which span his autobiographical ode to life in the face of dodging death, ‘1987’; the golden pop of ‘Into The Loving Arms Of Your Enemy’; ‘Broken Keys’, which features Afghan Whigs’ Greg Dulli and folk singer Kathryn Williams; and ‘Strange Beauty’ – set a blistering emotional pace. Though it is testament to Harcourt’s abilities as a songwriter, that when he shifts from this opening salvo into the gentle fragility of ‘The Violence Of The Rose’, it is immediately clear it is all part of the same, wonderful journey.   

for fans of: elbow / richard hawley / i am kloot / scott walker / doves / the divine comedy