Paul Kelly To Release 'The Merri Soul Sessions' Over Six Months

Australian music legend Paul Kelly is about to be a big part of your listening landscape once more, with the announcement today that he will be releasing a series of four 7” double-A-side vinyl singles, known as The Merri Soul Sessions, over the next six months.

The series of releases, which were recorded live in the studio with assistance from the likes of Clairy Browne, Vika and Linda Bull, Dan Sultan and Kira Puru, will culminate with an album release early next year, which will contain all the existing singles as well as three additional tracks.

The Merri Soul Sessions marks Kelly’s follow-up work to his acclaimed song cycles Spring And Fall and Conversations With Ghosts, with the first taste of the new work coming in the form of first singles Keep On Coming Back For More, featuring Clairy Browne, and What You Want, featuring Vika Bull, but each of the singles will be able to be purchased individually (as well as all together) in a limited-edition box set (only 1000 to be made, though it will be available digitally). More information on the release can be found at PledgeMusic’s project site.

The series of singles came about particularly organically, and was seeded from an experience Kelly had witnessing Vika Bull’s version of his classic track Sweet Guy. As Kelly explains in a statement:

“In recent years doing band shows with Vika and Linda, Vika had been singing Sweet Guy, an old song of mine, and bringing the house down each time. I was keen to record her version and thought, naturally, that if we were going into the studio we should try and get some other songs on tape as well.

“I had a song in mind for Linda. I wrote a couple of songs with Dan Sultan that had a soul kind of feeling. And a couple of recent songs of mine, as yet unrecorded, came back into view. They seemed to fit well with the others. Having half-a-dozen songs now that were talking to each other helped me write a couple more. This is how it goes. One thing leads to another. You never quite know what’s happening ‘til you’re in the middle of it.”

The Paul Kelly Presents: The Merri Soul Sessions LP will be released via physical and digital outlets in February next year. Preorder and collectors’ edition details are available at PledgeMusic.

Check out a trailer for the singles below.

Full schedule of The Merri Soul Sessions releases