Patrick Wolf has announced his new album ‘Crying The Neck’ and has shared the mystical new single ‘Dies Irae’.The anthemic ‘Dies Irae’ features a whirlwind of mystical sounds as Wolf sings: “The night is yet to fall (oooh) / Not yet your funeral (oooh) / And while we’re alive, alive, alive, alive (oooh) / What can I do to help (oooh) /You hold back tomorrow,” describing an “affirmation of life”.The song’s title originates from the Latin Requiem Mass and translates to “the day of wrath” and part of the track’s string arrangement is based on a Latin-mass Medieval Gregorian chant of the same title.Speaking about the track in a press release, Wolf shared that the song was created as a response of “the day of separation from the living,” viewing it as a “an affirmation of life in the last days of knowing you are about to lose someone you love, and a courageous – almost rebellious – choice against the misery to use the time remaining to deepen your love or joy with each other.”He continued, explaining that he wrote the song “to give myself another day I didn’t have with my mother during her rapid descent in illness.” He also explained that ‘Dies Irae’ completed the arc of the LP, saying: “I finished the lyrics as an imaginary last conversation with my mother in her art studio and out to the garden as the evening falls.
My sister Jo Apps came in the last days of mixing to sing the backing vocals, and in a way, it meant that we could both share a last dance in the kitchen with our ma together.”‘Dies Irae’ serves as the first taster of Wolf’s forthcoming seventh album ‘Crying The Neck’ which is set for release on April 25 via Apport/Virgin Music and is available to pre-order here.
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