Lonely Robot, the project masterminded by producer, guitarist and singer/songwriter John Mitchell (It Bites, Frost*, Arena), recently announced that their much-anticipated second studio album 'The Big Dream' will be released on April 28th, 2017. Today sees the launch of the official video for the track 'Everglow', directed by previous collaborator Lee Blackmore.
Watch it now on VEVO here:
John Mitchell had this to say: "Everglow is the first song I wrote for The Big Dream, and here is my ace pop video for it. It features what I call an anti-chorus...if you need to vindicate yourself on a public platform you're looking in the wrong place :)"
A series of interview clips were recently launched, where John Mitchell discusses how Lonely Robot came together, and the new album in detail. Watch the latest one here: https://youtu.be/1IZTy0l1CRw
Following 2015's acclaimed debut 'Please Come Home', 'The Big Dream' has a core theme running through it - one that sees The Astronaut, the central character in the Lonely Robot adventure, emerging from a long period in stasis.
Mitchell explains: "The Astronaut wakes up from a cryogenic sleep but finds he's no longer in space, and is instead in a woodland area surrounded by a group of strange people with animal heads! It's a little surreal, a little 'Midsummer Night's Dream' to some extent. This is something of a solipsistic haze, for want of a better description!"
Mitchell explains more about his Lonely Robot concept: "I have always envisaged the storyline of The Astronaut's journey evolving over the course of three albums. And I always knew where I wanted to go with the second album - taking The Astronaut away from space and into a strange and unfamiliar environment. Right now, I have no thoughts of what will happen for the third one but I'd better start thinking about it now!"
"The key inspiration for Lonely Robot comes from my love of science fiction films, and the atmospheric soundtracks that often accompany them - such as Alan Silvestri's compositions for 'Contact' and Clint Mansell's work for 'Moon'."
The album once again features drums by Craig Blundell (Steven Wilson), with all other instrumentation on the album delivered by Mitchell himself.
'The Big Dream' will be available as a special edition digipak CD (including 3 bonus tracks), gatefold 2LP + CD & digital download.
Pre-order the album from here:
The track-listing is as follows:
1. Prologue (Deep Sleep)
2. Awakenings
3. Sigma
4. In Floral Green
5. Everglow
6. False Lights
7. Symbolic
8. The Divine Art Of Being
9. The Big Dream
10. Hello World Goodbye
11. Epilogue (Sea Beams)
Bonus Tracks:
12. In Floral Green (Acoustic Version)
13. The Divine Art Of Being (Acoustic Version)
14. Why Do We Stay? (feat. Kim Seviour)
At the end of 2015, Lonely Robot played a triumphant show at The Scala in London, and Mitchell wants to play further live dates in 2017, with a few already confirmed. "The only condition is that I want them all to be special; and now we have two albums of material from which to choose the set."
Lonely Robot will be brought to life on stage with Craig Blundell on drums, Steve Vantsis on bass & Liam Holmes on keyboards (pictured above). The following dates are currently confirmed:
Thu, April 27 - Sub89, Reading, UK (album launch show)
Fri, April 28 - Marillion Convention, Leicester, UK
Sat, May 27- Trinity Live, Assembly Rooms, Leamington Spa, UK
Lonely Robot's debut album Please Come Home received fantastic reviews upon release, with Prog calling it "one mighty statement of intent" and Fireworks stating it's "one of the finest pieces of Prog Pop".
Look out for more information in the coming weeks at John Mitchell's brand new website:
