The singular voice of sensitive storytelling, occasionally surreal singer-songwriter, Sweet Baboo returns to the cut, thrust and cacophony of the music world by announcing the release of his seventh studio album, The Wreckage on his own Amazing Tapes From Canton label on Fri 27 January 2023. Also known as multi-instrumentalist musical polymath, Stephen Black, the road map with directions to not only his first album in five years, but an extensive 2023 UK Tour, begins to slowly unfold with the guarded optimism of the H Hawkline-penned single Good Luck.
Opening at the vibrant Future Yard venue in Birkenhead (15 Feb 23) and taking in a run of no fewer than 19 dates, with more soon to be announced, including The Victoria, London (22 Feb 23) and Manchester’s ornate Deaf Institute (1 Mar 23), tickets for all Sweet Baboo 2023 UK Tour dates are available now. With inevitable previews of new music, Black plays just one date before the end of this year, appearing at Cardiff’s Swn Festival on Sun 23 October 2022.
Half a decade since the wonder of Wild Imagination, the last Sweet Baboo album in 2017, has passed in a slide-show of hotels, service stations and studios as Black’s step out of the light meant a step into the bands of Gruff Rhys, Cate Le Bon and Teenage Fan Club, amongst others. Counting in H Hawkline as a friend, collaborator and now guest songwriter, Good Luck’s seemingly effortless and effortlessly charming lo-fi pop, cut with synths, clarinet and xylophone appears to paint the Sweet Baboo set in similar colours to those found across his six previous records. Yet, the car park fights between woe and hope, procrastination and determination, beauty and ugliness push on to set a new scene for Black’s most enduring project: one of destruction, rebuilding and contrast, within which The Wreckage is poised to play out.
Also adding Boy Azooga’s Davey Newington to the line-up of musicians scattering their gifts across the single and album, plus Group Listening band mate, Paul Jones and Hawkline himself on bass and electric guitar, Good Luck follows the blink-and-miss release of Hopeless that escaped during the long days of last summer.
On the collaborative heart of Good Luck, Black says: “I asked my friend H Hawkline to write me a song for the album as I thought it would be interesting to have another lyrical voice to contrast with mine. Little did I know he was going to write the most radio-friendly song on the album. You’ll have to ask him what it’s about but to me it’s like the opposite idea to ‘Hopeless’. Always optimistic, never giving up. There’s an air of sadness.”
Offering communal experience for the wistful, weary and occasionally ready to dance, the full list of confirmed live dates for Sweet Baboo, as he leaves Cardiff with guitar in hand, are as follows:
October 2022
Sun 23 Oct – Cardiff, Swn Festival
February 2023
Wed 15 Feb – Birkenhead, Future Yard
Thu 16 Feb – Glasgow, Hug & Pint
Fri 17 Feb – Sunderland, Pop Records
Tue 21 Feb – Hastings, Marine Fountain
Wed 22 Feb – London, The Victoria
Thu 23 Feb – Ramsgate, Ramsgate Music Hall
Fri 24 Feb – Brighton, Komedia Studio
Sat 25 Feb – Oxford, Florence Park Community Centre
March 2023
Wed 1 Mar – Manchester, Deaf Institute
Thu 2 Mar – Halifax, The Grayston Unity
Fri 3 Mar – Leeds, Hyde Park Book Club
Sat 4 Mar – Aldershot, West End Centre
Fri 10 Mar – Totnes, New Lion Brewery
Sat 11 Mar – Falmouth, Cornish Bank
Sun 12 Mar – Stroud, Prince Albert
Fri 17 Mar – Rhayader, The Lost Arc
Wed 22 Mar – Leicester, The Firebug
Fri 24 Mar – Birmingham, Sunflower Lounge
Sat 25 Mar – Nottingham, JT Soars
