Richard Neuberg shares new single ‘Saltwater’ and announces details of The Vine, his exquisitely crafted debut solo album and his first release in 16 years.
Richard is best known as the frontman of Viarosa, described by Uncut as “like The Birthday Party doing Johnny Cash”. They released two widely acclaimed albums and played alongside Josh T Pearson, Robyn Hitchcock and REM. In the long hiatus since his last release with Viarosa and this forthcoming solo debut album, Richard worked as a producer in his own studio in Oxford before a debilitating illness, ME/CFS, left him a virtual shut-in. The illness followed a long stretch of tragedy for Richard, from his sister’s suicide when he was 19, to the loss of his father and, more recently, his mother, as well as a run of unsuccessful IVF attempts. These profound life experiences are poured into and processed on The Vine, due for release on May 29.
The delicately finger-picked new single ‘Saltwater’ brings Nick Drake to mind and is a taste of the bucolic charm throughout The Vine, anchored by Richard’s captivating baritone. ‘Saltwater’ exemplifies the album’s exquisite tenderness and Richard’s exceptional songwriting craft, blending raw vulnerability and deep melancholy with enlightenment and optimism. An embrace of all that life offers and not of what is lost.
“My emotional vulnerability is central to ‘Saltwater’, aware as I am that the thorn I carry within me might find its way to my heart. And however much I wait for things to change, for the ‘bird to sing a rhyme that goes better with me’, things never seem to quite settle down to a place of peace. Saltwater is also about the life I share with my wife Emma, of our love and our journey together, of how hard it can feel to be apart.” – Richard Neuberg.
Saltwater is available to stream now on Spotify and Apple Music. The Vine is released on May 29.
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