Leave Your Sleep, Natalie Merchant's first studio album since 2003, is due out April 13 on Nonesuch Records and is now available for pre-order. This release is the culmination of six years of research and collaboration and is, in her words, “The most elaborate project I have ever completed or even imagined.” In a Nonesuch Store exclusive, the first 500 orders are available with a limited-edition, signed print of Merchant. [Update: These prints are no longer available.]
Leave Your Sleep, Natalie Merchant's first studio album since 2003’s The House Carpenter’s Daughter, is due out April 13 on Nonesuch Records and is now available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store. This release is the culmination of six years of research and collaboration and is, in Merchant’s words, “The most elaborate project I have ever completed or even imagined.”
In a Nonesuch Store exclusive, the first 500 orders of the album are available with a limited-edition print of a Natalie Merchant photo taken by Mark Seliger and signed by Natalie. [Update: These prints are no longer available.] As usual, orders also include the album as high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s at no additional cost, available on release day.
A two-disc set, Leave Your Sleep is a collection of songs adapted from poems selected by Merchant including pieces by both well-known and obscure writers. Featured are works by British Victorians, early- and mid-20th century Americans and contemporary writers as well as anonymous nursery rhymes and lullabies. Among the authors included are Ogden Nash, E.E. Cummings, Robert Louis Stevenson, Christina Rossetti, Edward Lear, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Robert Graves.
While she was in London in January, Natalie gave an exclusive interview to the British literary magazine Granta, in which she discussed the project and her favorite poets. The interview is now available online at granta.com.
In addition to a new method of lyricism, Merchant stretches out musically on Leave Your Sleep by collaborating with a broad spectrum of artists including the Wynton Marsalis Quartet, Medeski Martin & Wood, The Fairfield Four, The Chinese Music Ensemble of New York, the Ditty Bops, members of the New York Philharmonic, The Klezmatics, Lúnasa and Hazmat Modine. “The poems inspired vastly different musical settings with themes that ranged from humorous and absurd to tragic, romantic, and deeply spiritual. The sessions involved 130 musicians and were recorded in live ensemble settings to capture a fresh and spontaneous energy,” notes Merchant. “They were some of the most magical experiences I’ve ever had making music.” Leave Your Sleep was co-produced by Merchant with Andres Levin, and engineered by Nick Wollage.
To pre-order Leave Your Sleep with the limited-edition, signed print and preview six songs from the album, visit the Nonesuch Store.
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