Futureheads frontman Barry Hyde will release his first solo album, Malody, on June 3 via Sirenspire Records. It a very personal record for Hyde, who explains:
What is ‘malody’? Malody is a word I have invented, derived from the words, ‘melody’ and ‘malady’. A ‘malody’ is a melody that expresses mental malaise, mental illness and deep sadness or its opposite, mania. I know about these things as I am bipolar.
This album is a musical representation of what it feels like to experience the extreme states of mind that characterize bipolar existence. Like many bipolar people, creativity is central to my life, central even to my illness. This album is a bipolar album, it was written in the rare and exquisite moments of intense creativity that comes in an almost complementary way with the highs and lows. It’s a deep, highly personal catharsis, a document of my experience.
Malody is also a very different album for Hyde, musically, eschewing spiky new wave for piano, violin, cello, double bass, tenor and baritone sax, pedal steel and trumpet. There are also a couple covers including Prince’s “Sometimes it Snows in April.” You can pre-order the album via PledgeMusic and check out first single “Sugar,” as well as the LP’s tracklist, below.
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Barry Hyde – Malody tracklist:
Theme
Blixer
Malody
Monster Again
Crazy Love
Sugar
Lonely
Loneliness
While We Were Sleeping
Sometimes It Snows In April
Thunder Song