Following the announcement last night that Richard Hawley has been shortlisted in the ‘British Male Solo Artist’ category at this year’s BRIT Awards, Parlophone Records will release Don’t Stare At The Sun; the fourth and final single from Hawley’s remarkable seventh album, Standing At The Sky’s Edge.
Don’t Stare At The Sun is one of the more reflective tracks from the album, a keynote performance suffused with a sense of cosmic serenity.
It covers a huge distance: a meditation that took inspiration from - on one hand - a woozy morning shared by young son and sleep-deprived father flying a kite in the park and - on the other - the fate that met Isaac Newton when he decided to stare into the sun.
"He burnt the retinas in his eyes," explains Hawley, "so that, from that moment on, everything he saw was gold."
Don’t Stare At The Sun will be available as a digital download and as the fourth release through the Richard Hawley Singles Club (also available from all good music retailers), on limited edition 10" vinyl b/w a new, exclusive track (also available as a download).
2012 proved to be Hawley’s most successful year yet: the Sheffield troubadour released his hugely acclaimed and highest charting album-to-date, played to sold out venues across Europe - including his first ever show at London’s Brixton Academy - performed a one-off, historic concert with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at former Sheffield steel works Magna, was shortlisted as ‘An Album Of The Year’ at the prestigious Mercury Music Prize, as well as inclusion in Best Albums 2012 polls in Q Magazine, Mojo, Uncut, NME, The Sun, Shortlist, amongst others, all topped off with the aforementioned BRIT Awards nomination.
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