El Magnifico

Ed Harcourt has released music under his own name that blends raw emotions, impeccable songwriting and visionary flights of imagination. He made his debut with the Mercury Prize-nominated, Here Be Monsters, in 2001, and a succession of ten rich, enthralling albums have followed including the intoxicating addictive Strangers (2004); the breathless Back Into The Woods (2013), which was recorded in just eight hours; and Furnaces (2016) which compellingly and entreatingly envisioned family ties confronted by the small matter of the apocalypse. Harcourt then moved onto explore the instrumental sphere with recent soundscape albums Beyond The End (2018) and Monochrome To Colour (2020). While recognizably bearing all the hallmarks that have made him such an admired and prolific songwriter, his new record, El Magnifico, also finds him striving for something new. It is an Ed Harcourt record, but one with a desire to seek fresh reward. "I think as a songwriter you do get to a point where you're aware of your past and what you've done," suggests Harcourt of the album's mixture of assuredness and aspiration. "It's knowing what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are, but also knowing how to better yourself by doing things you haven't done before." The record was produced in his studio at the bottom of his garden, while also making use of the natural resonance of his local church to capture the album's array of string parts. It was completed with the input of friend and producer Dave Izumi Lynch at Eastbourne's Echo Zoo studio. El Magnifico's spirit owes much to Harcourt's initial writing and recording approach, an experience that saw him revel in creative freedom as he indulged his impulses and tried not to outthink instincts. Though it's title was coined in jest, as his new album attests what Ed Harcourt does is proving to be fittingly magnificent.