Steve Hackett shares first new music from The Circus And The Nightwhale. Watch the video for People Of The Smoke here...

01 Dec 2023, 10:34 · louder

By Jerry Ewing
( Prog )
published 1 December 2023

Steve Hackett's new concept album The Circus And The Nightwhale to be released in February

(Image credit: Tina Korhonen)

Steve Hackett has shared the first new music from his upoming studio album, The Circus And The Nightwhale, which will be released through InsideOutMusic on February 16. Watch the new video for People Of The Smoke below.

“My new album kicks off with People Of The Smoke, where we’re thrown back in time to the smokescape of 1950 London," Hackett tells Prog. "A baby’s scream becomes a steam train, black smoke invades everything and industry rules the day. This is the place where the album’s story begins…"

The Circus And The Nightwhale will be the first full-blown Hackett concept album since his 1975 solo debut Voyage Of The Acolyte, which followed Genesis's 1974 grand double concept affair The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.

“The Circus And The Nightwhale is an album with a difference," Hackett adds. "This time it is a story, based both literally and metaphorically on my life… It’s both faction and fiction, beginning in a gritty world of harsh reality, spinning off into a colourful and dark, weird metaphorical universe of wonder turned to terror, with an ultimately beautiful resolve."

The album features Hackett's touring band as well as a raft of guests including Amanda Lehmann and Big Big Train's Nick D’Virgilio, Hugo Degenhardt return as guests on the drumstool, Benedict Fenner features on keyboards and Malik Mansurov on tar, with Hackett's brother John once more on flute.

The Circus And The Nightwhale will be available on several different formats, including a limited edition CD and Blu-ray mediabook (including 5.1 Surround Sound and 24-bit high resolution stereo mixes), standard CD jewelcase, gatefold 180g vinyl LP and as digital album.

Hackett will take part in two HMV instore events in London and Birmingham, where he will be taking part in a Q&A and signing albums. Find out more details on those here.

Pre-order The Circus And The Nightwhale.

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Jerry Ewing

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.

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