Diesel Announces 14-Track Album 'Bootleg Melancholy', Drops New Single

Mark Lizotte, aka Diesel, has announced that his sixteenth album, Bootleg Melancholy, will be released via Bloodlines on Friday, 13 October.

The album contains a whopping exuberant 14 tracks. You can experience the first taste of the album with Forever – watch the music video below.

Forever is a rock tune where Diesel searches for familiarity through nostalgia-tinged glasses. The chorus is effortlessly uplifting and bright, allowing the singer and guitarist to mine the kind of positivity we look for in our beloved artists. The video finds Diesel playing a Fender Telecaster guitar and singing on location in Los Angeles.

On his intentions behind the reflective album, Lizotte explained in a statement, “The world can be hard, and that takes us over in our heads, but love and joy are always right there in front of us if we remember to look for them too.”

Lizotte continued, “If I’m going to write about my anxieties and fears, I’ll mix it with other parts of me – humour, memories, just small moments – because it’s more welcoming to hear but also a truer picture of who I am. When I get scared, I’m laughing at myself for being scared, you know?”

Bootleg Melancholy was recorded in Lizotte’s home studio and found the artist playing a majority of instruments himself, toying around with the cello, double bass, vintage synths and drum machines, mandolin, and the electronic Omnichord.

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On Forever, Lizotte added, “I know when it feels potent and if it feels potent to me, my hope is that it would feel like that to someone else because that's all I'm really trying for.”

You can pre-order or pre-save Bootleg Melancholy here and find the tracklist below.

Diesel’s new album follows his 2021 release, Alone With Blues.

The album announcement also arrives after Diesel embarked on his Greatest Hits tour earlier this year. "This show is arguably the most encompassing concert performance and song collection I've curated to date," Diesel commented when the tour was announced.

"It makes for an uplifting experience for both the audience and myself. I feel they are getting ALL of me with this one. I simply had to bring it to more towns. Like unfinished business but way more fun. The sing-a-longs are epic!"