In 2011, Paul Simon was on World Cafe to talk about his new release So Beautiful or So What. I hadn’t really paid close attention to his career for a while, but the new music was solid and you could tell from the interview that Simon was as fully energized and passionate about it as at any point in his career. Though an elder statesman of rock and roll even 12 years ago, the album showcased the sharp lyrics, inventive rhythms and complex arrangements he’d been known for for decades. It occurred to me as I listened, that from the Everly Brothers-inspired harmonies to Greenwich Village folk to bringing music from around the world to America on his albums Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints, Paul Simon had been making globally relevant music my entire life.
In 2016, he did it again with Stranger to Stranger. The track Wristband begins as a humorous tale of getting locked out of his own concert because he went outside and didn’t have a wristband to get back through security. By the end, the line “if you don’t have a wristband, my man, you don’t get through the door” is a political statement about privilege and elitism, signaling solidarity with marginalized and less fortunate groups.
In 2018, Simon announced that he was retiring from touring. He also released an album of re-imagined lesser known tunes from his extensive catalog – In the Blue Light. It was recorded with the help of Bryce Dessner of the band The National, the chamber orchestra yMusic, and featured Bill Frisell and Wynton Marsalis. There was some speculation at the time that he may have also decided to retire from making new music.
Whether or not he planned to retire, his inner artist wasn’t going to allow it. This month he is slated to release Seven Psalms. In a trailer for the new record and accompanying documentary – In Restless Dreams – he explains that he had a dream in January of 2019 that he was working on an album called Seven Psalms. He wasn’t exactly sure what it meant, but he kept getting ideas and would wake up pre-dawn to write them down. Those notes eventually turned into the new record.
For a brief tumultuous time in the ’80s, Paul Simon was married to the late Carrie Fisher. She talks about it in her one-woman show Wishful Drinking, concluding that even if you’re not represented in a positive light, you should never pass up an opportunity to have Paul Simon write a song about you “he’s so good at it.” Fast forward to the present and Seven Psalms is about his relationship with the universe. “This whole piece is really an argument I’m having with myself about belief, or not.” Also suggesting “the limitation of your belief always tends to be tied to your conception of your mortality.” With a body of work featuring psychological deep dives, self-reflection and biting social commentary, his observations on creation itself have the potential to be illuminating and thought provoking.
He’s joined this time by the British vocal group VOCES8 and Edie Brickell (his wife) makes a guest appearance. All of the music is performed on acoustic instruments. It’s produced by Paul Simon and Kyle Crushman whose work includes albums with Edie Brickell, Ben Harper, Salim Nourallah, and Natalie Maines. Though it’s broken into seven distinct tracks, or “movements” the 33-minute album is meant to be listened to in its entirety.
Seven Psalms is scheduled for release on May 19 on CD, vinyl and on streaming platforms. Because it’s a concept album, we’re going to act a little like our friends across the hall in Classics & News, and present the entire piece on Open Air a few times before we start playing the individual cuts. Check our Facebook and Instagram pages and listen to Open Air for more details.
