[youtube https://youtu.be/uAhEvcuCmqs]

In celebration of his 78th Birthday, and in anticipation of February 8th release of True North, we are thrilled to announce that Michael Chapman has shared a new track, album centerpiece “Truck Song.”

In addition, Michael recently spoke with Aquarium Drunkard about the few years he spent on musical hiatus in the early 1960s as a photography instructor. The album’s artwork features his own abstract black and white photography from this time period, illustrating another side of Michael’s creative practice.

“I think that’s who I am,” Chapman says with a slight chuckle. “I’ve been called the Yorkshire miserablist. I quite like that.”

– Aquarium Drunkard

Head over to Aquarium Drunkard to learn more and listen to “Truck Song” HERE. See Michael’s photos below.

Pre-order True North

$9.00 – $31.00

Or support via:  Bandcamp  (LP/CD/DL/stream) |  Other Options (LP/CD/DL/stream) | Local Record Stores

True North is the masterful follow-up to Michael Chapman’s universally celebrated 2017 album 50. Due for release February 08, 2019 on Paradise of Bachelors, the album was announced in late 2018 with the release of the “gripping” (Brooklyn Vegan) opener “It’s Too Late” described by The Guardian as a “sage, yet defiant assessment of boozy regret,” and followed by the unflinching, bittersweet “After All This Time” featuring the voice of UK songwriting hero and longtime Chapman friend and collaborator Bridget St John.

4 stars. One of the last original folkies still standing. Chapman shows younger pretenders a clean pair of heels with impeccable guitar picking and tunes that veer from moist-eyed remembrance to defiance at time’s relentless passage … The fact that new is indistinguishable from old, and arguably better, is remarkable.

– Q Magazine

The elegiac True North navigates the treacherous territory of time, resulting in the most nakedly personal album of his career, his most authoritative, unguarded, and emotionally devastating statement. The album begins with the gnawing regret of “It’s Too Late,” and every song Chapman sings thereafter directly references the passing of time—its blind ruthlessness, its sweet hazy delights—in noirish language almost mystical in its terseness and precision. This is Chapman at his darkest and most nocturnal, yes, but also his most elegant and subtle, squinting into the black hours with an unseen smile.

Pre-order details

Please note that this album is available in a limited red-wine colored vinyl edition—our second-ever color pressing—in addition to regular black vinyl. Contingent on manufacturing schedules, we will ship your pre-ordered album approximately a week in advance of the February8, 2019 worldwide release date. All pre-orders include an immediate 320k MP3 download of lead single “It’s Too Late,” as premiered by Billboard. 

For digital-only preorders, please visit Bandcamp (which also offers uncompressed, high-resolution audio files) or your favorite digital marketplace.