Ed Harcourt - Beyond the End (2018)

Ed Harcourt presents Beyond The End, his eighth studio album, and his first for Point Of Departure. A much acclaimed recording artist who released his Mercury Prize nominated debut, Here Be Monsters on Heavenly Records in 2001, in recent years his has gained acclaim for his songwriting for a variety of artists. The album, which follows Furnaces, his 2016 album for Polydor, sees Ed Harcourt add another new string to his multi-faceted musical bow. Something of a left-turn after its busy, big-screen, somewhat under-appreciated predecessor, it sees the supremely versatile singer, writer and all-round instrumentalist bravely eschew vocals and lyrics and create a soft-spoken yet emotionally loquacious group of piano-led instrumentals, as if sound-tracking an as yet invisible film, or responding to today's ferocious shouting match of a planet with a mesmerizing, meditative calm. "The world that we live in, we're exhausted by the internet, social media, the sheer barrage of news and vomit being rained down us on a daily basis. You can't avoid it, and it's tiring. So this record came from taking a step back - it's something that's trying to be beautiful. My hope is that people might choose to swim amongst this music when it all gets too much."