STEVE HACKETT Releases New Single "Circo Inferno"; Visualizer Video
by BraveWords
Photo - Tina Korhonen
Legendary rock guitarist, Steve Hackett, will release his new studio album, The Circus And The Nightwhale, on February 16 via InsideOut Music. A rite-of-passage concept album with a young character called Travla at the centre of it, The Circus And The Nightwhales' 13 tracks have an autobiographical angle for the musician who says about his 30th solo release: "I love this album. It says the things I've been wanting to say for a very long time."
Today, Hackett shares the track "Circo Inferno", and you can watch a visualizer for the song below.
Steve said of the track: "'Circo Inferno' is the most frenzied point in this album's narrative... A plea for rescue within the maelstrom of a Dantesque circus, involving swirling Phrygian runs, insistent sax, full on vocals and blistering guitar..."
The Circus And The Nightwhale is Steve's first new music in over two years. It follows the beautiful acoustic LP Under A Mediterranean Sky from January 2021 - which rose to #2 in the UK Classical chart - and, in September of that year, his metallic masterpiece Surrender Of Silence, which hit the UK Top 40. His 2023 live album, Foxtrot At Fifty + Hackett Highlights: Live in Brighton, reached #2 in the Rock & Metal Chart. Steve's new LP promises ballads, blues, blistering progressive rock... and healthy measures of theatre and fantasia.
Recorded between tours in 2022 and 2023 at Siren studio in the UK - with guest parts beamed in from Sweden, Austria, the US, Azerbaijan and Denmark, the lineup for The Circus And The Nightwhale includes some familiar faces alongside Steve on electric and acoustic guitars, 12-string, mandolin, harmonica, percussion, bass and vocals. Roger King (keyboards, programming and orchestral arrangements), Rob Townsend (sax), Jonas Reingold (bass), Nad Sylvan (vocals), Craig Blundell (drums) and Amanda Lehmann on vocals. Nick D'Virgilio and Hugo Degenhardt return as guests on the drumstool, engineer extraordinaire Benedict Fenner appears on keyboards and Malik Mansurov is back with the tar. Finally, Steve's brother John Hackett is present once more on flute.
The new album is available to pre-order on several different formats, including a Limited CD+Blu-ray mediabook (including 5.1 Surround Sound & 24bit high resolution stereo mixes), Standard CD Jewelcase, Gatefold 180g Vinyl LP & as Digital Album. All feature the stunning cover painting by Denise Marsh. Pre-order here.
The Circus And The Nightwhale coverart
Tracklisting:
"People Of The Smoke" "These Passing Clouds" "Taking You Down" "Found And Lost" "Enter The Ring" "Get Me Out!" "Ghost Moon And Living Love" "Circo Inferno" "Breakout" "All At Sea" "Into The Nightwhale" "Wherever You Are" "White Dove"
"People Of The Smoke" video:
"Wherever You Are" video:
The Circus And The Nightwhale interview series:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Summing up The Circus And The Nightwhale, Steve says: "It's a lovely journey that starts dirty, scratchy and smoky and becomes heavenly and divine. How can you resist it?"
Steve Hackett & band will tour the world extensively in 2024, including a brand new UK tour Genesis Greats, Lamb Highlights & Solo, which will see him return to the legendary Royal Albert Hall. He will also return to North America early this year, with European shows booked in for the Summer. For the full list of dates, head here.
