Dexys are back with a new album and concert in home city Wolverhampton
Soul rebel Kevin Rowland is back, with a new album, a new look and an appearance in his home city.
Dexys, formerly known as Dexys Midnight Runners, have announced their first new album of original music in over a decade.
And they will be touring – with a sell-out crowd expected at Wolverhampton's newly-reopened Civic Halls.
The 69-year-old, from Wednesfield in Wolverhampton, had teased fans on social media about a big announcement.
And he this week shared the video of the new track I’m Going To Get Free ahead of the album release in July. It features him dressed in a crimson red suit and hat.
It is the third album under the shortened name Dexys. The first in 2012, One Day I'm Going to Soar, was a critical success and coincided with a tour that saw the band playing live in the West Midlands as well as a cinema release that filled a screening at Cineworld in Wolverhampton among others across the country. A later album in 2016 featured covers of Irish and country soul and made the top 10 in the album chart.
The new album, The Feminine Divine, marks the pop veterans’ first new material in seven years and fans are now speculating that a tour will follow.
Due out on July 28, the upcoming album combines both Dexys classic pop sound, along with a new synth-heavy approach.
According to the band, the first half of the album sees the members channel some of their most popular hits, while the latter half verges into a more experimental territory and is a “saucy, synth-heavy cabaret” unlike anything they have released before.
They will be playing the album, along with classic Dexys Midnight Runners hits at Wolverhampton's Civic on September 16. Pre-sale tickets go on sale from next Thursday.
A statement for the band said: “After taking some time out to refocus his energy, Kevin Rowland came back to music with a fresh perspective and new-found positivity. A personal, if not strictly autobiographical, record portraying a man whose views have evolved over time. Not just on women, but the whole concept of masculinity he had been raised with.”
According to the band, the upbeat new single channels the story of a character striving to escape from mental health issues and opt for a more positive outlook on life.
“The character is optimistically breaking free from internalised trauma, depression and guilt,” said Rowland.
Written in collaboration with Sean Read, Mike Timothy and original Dexy’s trombonist Big Jim Paterson, the album was produced by Pete Schwier and acclaimed session musician, Toby Chapman. Pre-order ‘The Feminine Divine’ here
Rowland has remained active and featured on stage at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year.
Back in November, Dexys joined forces with Primal Scream to share a track in support of railway workers.
The song, ‘Enough Is Enough’ was produced in collaboration with the Rail, Maritime and Transport union to campaign against the cost of living crisis.
He said: “It is clear to millions that something is very wrong when millionaires get ever richer while workers are told to accept poverty.
“As we say in the song, the media sets out to divide us with side issues like Brexit and culture wars while all we are really getting is endless austerity and cuts. We are saying enough is enough.”
