Maps of Music

Seven Psalms (2023)

Where the lyrics of Seven Psalms take you, and where it was really made.

The cover lists seven songs, yet the CD indexes the whole album as one continuous track of 33:02.

Key places

Arlyn Studios, Austin (2023)

Recording site Arlyn Studios — The album's recording location list names Arlyn Studios in Austin. The point uses the building-level coordinates from the candidate record. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Power Station at BerkleeNYC, New York (2023)

Recording site Power Station Studio — The album's recording location list names Power Station at BerkleeNYC in New York City. The point uses the building-level coordinates from the candidate record. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Reservoir Studios, New York (2023)

Recording site Chung King Studios — The album's recording location list names Reservoir Studios in New York City. The point uses the building-level coordinates from the candidate record. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

The Village (2023)

Recording site Village Recorders — The album's recording location list names The Village. The point uses the building-level coordinates from the candidate record. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

VOCES8 Centre, London (2023)

Recording site VOCES8 Centre — The album's recording location list names VOCES8 Centre in London, the centre linked to the album's guest choir. The point uses the building-level coordinates from the candidate record. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Seven Psalms: fifteenth solo studio album by American musician Paul Simon
• Released 19 May 2023 through Owl Records and Legacy Recordings
• Conceived as a seven-part piece meant to be heard in its entirety as one work
• Completely acoustic performance
• Simon's first album since In the Blue Light (2018)
• First album of new material since Stranger to Stranger (2016)
• Guests: Voces8 and Simon's wife, Edie Brickell

Background

• The idea came from a dream on 15 January 2019
• Simon wrote the dream down and at first had no plan to make it into a work
• He woke between 3:30 and 5:00 a.m. two to three nights a week to write lyrics for the project
• The main inspiration was the Book of Psalms
• In interviews Simon said the album deals with the subject of God

Recording

• Credited as producer: Paul Simon, with Kyle Crusham as producer and engineer
• Recording credit David Hinnet, additional recording by Andy Smith
• Mixing by Patrick Dillett, mastering by Greg Calbi
• Arrangements by Bob Sirota on track 4
• Edie Brickell sings vocals on tracks 6 and 7

Cover

• The cover art was taken from Thomas Moran's Two Owls

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ko.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Paul Simon (born October 13, 1941, Newark, New Jersey) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• He met Art Garfunkel in elementary school in 1953 and they became known as Simon & Garfunkel in the 1960s.
• The duo's folk-rock hits such as "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", "America" and "The Boxer" defined the 1960s counterculture.
• Their final album, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970), is among the best-selling albums of all time.

Career

• As a solo artist, Simon explored gospel, reggae, soul and world music.
• Paul Simon (1972), There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973) and Still Crazy After All These Years (1975) drew acclaim and hits such as "Mother and Child Reunion" and "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover".
• Graceland (1986), incorporating South African influences, became his most successful and acclaimed album.
• He wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman (1998), which was poorly received.
• His later albums include You're the One (2000), So Beautiful or So What (2011), Stranger to Stranger (2016) and Seven Psalms (2023).
• He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice and won 16 Grammy Awards.

Honors

• He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001 and the first Library of Congress Gershwin Prize in 2007.
• He co-founded the Children's Health Fund, a nonprofit providing medical care to children.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Jon Pareles at The New York Times designated it a Critic's Pick and praised its observant, elliptical and quietly encompassing character
• Chris Willman at Variety saw it as proof of how inquisitive and engaged an artist can be late in a career
• Michaelangelo Matos, reviewing for Rolling Stone, read it as iconic of the spirituality at the center of Simon's discography
• Poppie Platt at The Telegraph compared it to a half-shuttered window and said it would be more fulfilling if opened wider
• Stephen Thomas Erlewine at AllMusic found it continually revealing, with each listen bringing a moment of grace or insight
• Critics compared it with the final albums of David Bowie (Blackstar) and Leonard Cohen (You Want It Darker), both released in 2016

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The cover and liner notes reflect seven songs, but the CD has only a single 33:02 track.
• Simon posted a trailer video on YouTube on 12 April 2023 to announce the album and explain its background.
• The album was not split into songs and was meant to be heard as one long piece; digital versions keep this sequencing.
• Simon said the idea first came to him in a dream, which he wrote down without intending to use it.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ko.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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