AWARD-WINNING SCOTTISH COMPOSER, CRAIG ARMSTRONG, SIGNS TO DECCA RECORDS FOR NEW STUDIO ALBUM, SUN ON YOU, OUT SEPTEMBER 7
For immediate release
AWARD-WINNING SCOTTISH COMPOSER, CRAIG ARMSTRONG, SIGNS TO DECCA RECORDS FOR NEW STUDIO ALBUM, SUN ON YOU, OUT SEPTEMBER 7
Releases First Song of Forthcoming Album, “If You Should Fall”
27 April 2018 (Toronto, ON) - Celebrated worldwide for his award-winning film music, Craig Armstrong OBE, is set to release a new studio album as part of a major new deal with Decca Records. Sun On You, a beautiful collection of original works for piano and strings, will be released on September 7 via Decca Records/Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company. The album arrives following a series of major European tour dates including London and his hometown of Glasgow. Watch the official album trailer for Sun On You HERE.
Armstrong is a Golden Globe, BAFTA, Ivor Novello, and Grammy award-winning composer whose iconic movie scores include, Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet, Love Actually, The Great Gatsby and many more. He has also collaborated with a wide range of musicians on tracks and remixes including Madonna, U2, Massive Attack, Pet Shop Boys, Texas, Yoko Ono, Mogwai, and Luciano Pavarotti.
On signing to Decca Records, Armstrong said, “It is a great honour to be joining such a historic label and being a part of such a wide, varied and interesting group of artists. I’m very much looking forward to working with the team on this new album and also future releases.”
Armstrong, who studied at the Royal Academy of Music, performs piano on all 16 tracks on Sun On You. He is accompanied by the Scottish Ensemble, the UK’s leading string orchestra comprised of 12 outstanding musicians. Armstrong found the recording process a wonderful experience – he said, “It was great to collaborate again with the Scottish Ensemble, they are such brilliant players.”
The first track from Sun On You is a beautifully melancholic piece called “If I Should Fall”, which is available on all digital platforms HERE. After a gentle piano introduction, the piece builds through a rich string accompaniment and a heartfelt solo violin melody before ebbing away towards its conclusion.
Reflecting on the album, Armstrong said, “I think my music is about absence. Things unsaid. Like early Japanese art, it hints at feelings, giving fleeting glimpses of places and emotions, where the listener has to fill in the rest with their own story. Even musically, the listener has to sometimes imagine music within the silence, so paired down are these compositions. However, this is not music standing back and observing, it is music that is trying to reach out.”
Sun On You marks a bold new chapter in Craig Armstrong’s fascinating compositional career. It also offers a moment of calm in a fast-paced world and an escape into a gentle, peaceful, and uplifting sound world.
Album Artwork
Follow Craig Armstrong:
Craig Armstrong - Sun On You
- Sun On You
- If You Should Fall
- Restart
- Marelle
- Mono
- Shifted
- Somewhere
- Alti
- For Emma
- Half Light
- Sleep
- Hanami
- Ondine
- Soft Patterns
- In A Remote Place
- Saudade
About Craig Armstrong
Craig Armstrong OBE is a Scottish composer of orchestral music, electronica and film scores. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 1981, and has since written music for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta. His score for Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet earned him a BAFTA for Achievement in Film Music and also an Ivor Novello. Armstrong also collaborated with the director on his musical Moulin Rouge!, winning the 2001 American Film Institute's Composer of the Year award, a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and a BAFTA. Armstrong was also awarded a Grammy for Best Original Score in 2004 for the biopic, Ray. His other feature film scoring credits include Love Actually, Oliver Stone's World Trade Centre, Elizabeth: The Golden Age and The Incredible Hulk.
Craig Armstrong performs his new album on a Yamaha CFX Grand Piano and it was recorded at Air Studios.
About the Scottish Ensemble
The UK’s leading string orchestra, Scottish Ensemble (SE) inspires audiences in the UK and beyond with vibrant performances which are powerful, challenging and rewarding experiences. Based in Glasgow, SE is built around a core of outstanding string players who perform together under Artistic Director Jonathan Morton. The group is becoming increasingly known for its international collaborations with artists from other disciplines, from dance and theatre companies to visual artists. Starting in 2014, their series of annual cross-artform collaborations has so far included immersive projects with: visual artist Toby Paterson; Swedish contemporary dance company Andersson Dance; electronic-classical crossover composer Anna Meredith and visual artist Eleanor Meredith; and, most recently, Scottish theatre company Vanishing Point on a production centred around the music of Arvo Pärt.
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