WIRRAL singer songwriter, Bill Ryder-Jones' fifth album, Iechyd Da, is released today (Friday, January 12).
Bill, 40, from West Kirby, co-founded The Coral, together with James Skelly, Lee Southall, Paul Duffy, and Ian Skelly, playing as their lead guitarist from 1996 until 2008.
He has since pursued a solo career, writing both his own albums and film scores, as well as producing records for other artists and appearing as a session musician with the likes of the Arctic Monkeys.
The new album has already received rave reviews with The Guardian describing it as "extraordinary" and Uncut adding, "Iechyd Da is an album that confirms Ryder-Jones as one of Britain’s finest songwriters”.
“I love this album,” said Bill. Recorded at his Yawn studios in West Kirby, Ryder-Jones took a deeply wide-screen approach to making the album - one that has Mick Head reading Ulysses over an instrumental one moment (...And the Sea…) to sampling the Brazilian singer Gal Costa (I Know That It’s Like This (Baby)) – Bill even got children involved.
The name of the album means good health in Welsh; “Over the years my music has lost a bit of its hope I reckon,” said Bill. “It was important for me to make a record that had more hope in it. Even by my standards the last few years have been rocky, but I’ve chosen to soundtrack it with more positive music, you know?”
Upcoming 2024 live dates
Friday 12th January – Rough Trade East, London - solo
Saturday 13th January – Spillers, Cardiff - solo
Tuesday 16th January – Monorail, Glasgow - solo
Wednesday 17th January – Piccadilly, Manchester – solo
Thursday 18th January - Applestump Records, Nantwich - solo
Tuesday 12th March – Room 2, Glasgow
Wednesday 13th March - Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Friday 15th March – The Castle & Falcon, Birmingham
Saturday 16th March – New Century Hall, Manchester
Sunday 17th March – Thekla, Bristol
Tuesday 19th March – CHALK, Brighton
Wednesday 20th March – Islington Assembly Hall, London
Thursday 21st March – Content, Liverpool
Saturday 23rd March – Paradiso, Amsterdam
Sunday 24th March – Hafenklang, Hamburg
Monday 25th March – Kantine am Berghain, Berlin
Wednesday 27th March – Trix Bar, Antwerp
Thursday 28th March – La Maroquinerie, Paris
Saturday 30th March – The Workman’s Club, Dublin
Sunday 31st March – Black Box, Belfast
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