Welsh songwriter Cate Le Bon announced that her new solo album, Reward, will be released on May 24 via her new label, Mexican Summer. Reward will be the follow-up to last year’s release of “Hippo Lite,” her collaboration with Tim Presley, and will be her first full length album since Crab Day in 2016. Fans also got a sneak preview of the album as she released the first single “Daylight Matters,” a song appreciating the pleasures of self-pity rather than a straightforward love song, alongside the album announcement.
About the development of her album Le Bon says while recounting the year living solitarily in the Lakes District of the U.K., “There’s a strange romanticism to going a little bit crazy and playing the piano to yourself and singing into the night.” The ten songs on the album were made alone at the piano, which remains clear by the feeling of closeness they convey. Although eventually recorded across American and the UK, Reward maintains a sense of intimacy and privacy throughout. This can be accredited to Le Bon and the inimitable way that that she works, all of which preserves a signature sound despite drastic changes in her approach. As a result, fans will receive an album every bit as stylistically varied, surrealistically-inclined and tactile as those in the enduring outsider’s back catalogue. However, one that is also intensely introspective and significantly her most personal piece of work to date.
In addition, Le Bon will return to the United States for a summer tour. This will include a previously announced appearance at Pitchfork Music Festival.
Update: Cate Le Bon released her video for “Daylight Matters,” the first single from her new record Reward. The video was directed by acclaimed film maker and multimedia artist Casey Raymond.
Reward Tracklist
- Miami
- Daylight Matters
- Home To You
- Mother’s Mother’s Magazines
- Here It Comes Again
- Sad Nudes
- The Light
- Magnificent Gestures
- You Don’t Love Me
- Meet The Man