Randy Newman Includes ‘Putin’ Song in New Album ‘Dark Matter’
Randy Newman will release a new solo album, Dark Matter, August 4th via Nonesuch Records, with a vinyl edition scheduled to follow August 18th. Dark Matter marks Newman’s first album of new material since 2008’s Harps and Angels.
Newman recorded Dark Matter in Los Angeles with producers and longtime collaborators Mitchell Froom, Lenny Waronker and David Boucher. The record is available to pre-order via iTunes and the Nonesuch store.
The nine-track Dark Matter includes Newman’s 2016 song, “Putin,” a brassy and sardonic number about the Russian leader that Newman was inspired to write after seeing a picture of Putin without a shirt. Dark Matter will also include songs about the Kennedy brothers, legendary blues musician Sonny Boy Williamson, science and religion, love, loss and more.
“If there is anything consistent about the songs, there is often more than one voice, in the big ones, and it’s different for me, a difficult thing to bring off, to make it comprehensible,” Newman said of his new collection of songs and their narrators. “I think it works. They cover more ground than most songs do and portray a number of different characters. Audiences are smart. They’ll understand the songs. I hope they like them as well.”
Newman has a handful of concerts lined up for this summer, while additional fall dates are expected to be announced.
Dark Matter Track List
1. “The Great Debate”
2. “Brothers”
3. “Putin”
4. “Lost Without You”
5. “Sonny Boy”
6. “It’s a Jungle out There (V2)”
7. “She Chose Me”
8. “On the Beach”
9. “Wandering Boy”