May 14, sees the release of Paul Weller’s 16th solo album entitled Fat Pop (Volume 1). The LP follows his June 2020 full-length On Sunset. Along with the news of the album, Weller has shared a video for “Cosmic Fringes.”

During spring last year, after his tour dates were postponed, Paul Weller needed something else to focus on. With many ideas for new songs stored on his phone, Paul started to record them on his own with just vocals, piano, and guitar which he’d send to his core band members (drummer Ben Gordelier, Steve Cradock on guitar, and bassist Andy Crofts) to add their parts. Despite it being strange not being together, it kept the wheels rolling and sanity prevailing. The band reconvened at Weller’s Black Barn studio in Surrey when restrictions were lifted to finish the work with the shape of the album becoming clear to all.

Fat Pop (Volume 1) – Paul adding the “Volume 1” to keep options open for a second volume in the future – is a diverse selection of sounds. No one style dominates. There’s the synth-heavy, future-wave strut of “Cosmic Fringes”, the stately balladeering of “Still Glides The Stream” (co-written with Steve Cradock), the chunky percussive groove of “Moving Canvas”(a tribute to Iggy Pop no less), and the kind of dramatic immediate pop symphonies on “Failed”, “True” and “Shades of Blue” with which Paul Weller has hooked in generation after generation of the devotee.

Fat Pop, sees a number of guests contributing including Lia Metcalfe, the young Liverpudlian singer with The Mysterines who combines her tremendous vocal as well as a songwriting credit to True. Andy Fairweather Low adds his distinctive vocals to superfly strutting “Testify” and Paul’s daughter Leah co-wrote and features on the 3-minute pop kitchen sink drama “Shades Of Blue” from the album. Hannah Peel is back in the fray adding her classic string scores to “Cobweb Connections” and “Still Glides The Stream.”

Paul Weller
Fat Pop Vol. 1
Track listing
Polydor Records

COSMIC FRINGES
TRUE
FAT POP
SHADE OF BLUE
GLAD TIMES
COBWEB / CONNECTIONS
TESTIFY
THAT PLEASURE
FAILED
MOVING CANVAS
IN BETTER TIMES
STILL GLIDES THE STREAM