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The album, which is a collaboration between Ferry and artist Amelia Barrett, marks a significant shift for the Roxy Music frontman. He compared the spoken word style to earlier Roxy tracks ‘In Every Dream Home A Heartache’ and ‘Mother of Pearl’. Talking to Clash Magazine last month, Ferry said: “The nearest I ever got to doing pieces like this before would maybe be back in Roxy… I’m pleased that when we’ve played Loose Talk to people, they’ve said, ‘Oh, this sounds really different.’ That’s what I’ve always wanted with everything I’ve done or been involved in: to be different.”  

Barrett has built a career as an artist without pigeonholing herself, having dabbled in performance poetry, painting, and immersive exhibitions. She is not new to the music world either, having released a cassette in 2023 in collaboration with Christian Flamm, which contained recordings in both English and German. Barrett met Ferry at an art exhibition in London’s East End, going on to record an audiobook at the singer’s recording studio. This led to ‘Loose Talk’, which Ferry described as “her words, my music”.

 

 

 

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 In the podcast, the ‘Slave to Love’ singer revealed the pair’s creative processes. Barrett wrote and recorded her parts completely separately to Ferry, whose sole focus was on composing and mixing the music, doing so alongside the album’s producer, James Garzke.

Ferry also revealed that the album would feature a co-credit for late bass player Alan Spenner, who passed away in 1991. The bassist played with Roxy Music during the late 70s and early 80s, and the piece that Ferry has unearthed and used on his upcoming album comes from 1973’s ‘For Your Pleasure’. It was shelved, before Spenner added a bass part when he played with the band, and then shelved again. Spenner’s playing can be heard on ‘More Than This’, ‘Avalon’, and ‘Dance Away’. His playing style has been described as “spinning lines that exuded a soulful, rhythm & blues disposition akin to Motown masters”.

Through his work with Roxy Music and his solo career, Ferry has built up a reputation as a modern-day aesthete, regarding the visuals to be just as important as the music. He touched on this in the interview, crediting his former university lecturer and pop artist, Richard Hamilton, for shaping his tastes. The artist’s influence is evident in the three music videos that have been released so far, blending various filmmaking techniques and looking more experimental than his usual sleek and highly-stylised music videos. The music videos for ‘Loose Talk’ are also Ferry’s first time directing videos, which might go some way to explaining the shift.

‘Loose Talk’ is set to be released in less than two weeks, hitting shelves and streaming services on 28 March. Preorders, presaves, and an exclusive green vinyl pressing are all available now. With a considerable buzz in certain circles, it will be fascinating to see the response to Ferry’s new direction.

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Unlike his glam-rock roots with Roxy Music, or his well-known covers work, ‘Orchestra’ see’s Ferry’s vocals pushed to the back of the mix, with Barratt taking centre stage with a spoken word performance. Ferry has hinted that this approach will be consistent over the 11-track album, with the 79 year old explaining that he handled the music and left the words to Barratt.  

In an interview with Super Deluxe Edition, Ferry explained his desire to constantly change and challenge himself: “It’s nice to feel you’re being adventurous. Trying things that you haven’t tried yourself, or nobody else has tried.” The ‘Slave to Love’ singer has a reputation as a musical chameleon, with former GQ columnist Peter York calling him an “art object who should be hung in the Tate”.

‘Loose Talk’ represents the first time Ferry has composed music for another artist. A statement on his website draws parallels between Ferry and Barrett, explaining that both artists were formed in art schools (Ferry at Newcastle University, and Barratt at Glasgow School of Art), and their chance meeting at an art exhibition. The release claimed the album will explore “fascinating micro-fictions, simultaneously fragmentary and self-contained.”  

Ferry’s last album of original material came back in 2014 with ‘Avonmore’. The album featured collaborations with various musicians, including Johnny Marr and Nile Rodgers, and peaked at 19 on the UK Albums Chart. His 2018 release, ‘Bitter-Sweet’, reworked his own and Roxy Music’s tracks with his own ‘Bryan Ferry Orchestra’.   

In October, ‘Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023’ was released. A career-spanning collection of hits from Ferry’s solo career, it came in at over five hours, and received praise from fans and critics alike with Metacritic showing a score of 90%. Included was ‘Star’, Ferry’s first original song in a decade, of which Uncut magazine said “its smouldering brilliance sounds less a postscript to everything it follows than a new beginning, Ferry nearing 80, still alert to the sound of tomorrow calling.”

Live performances remain uncertain. Ferry joined Roxy Music on their 50th anniversary tour in 2022, but as a solo artist, his last performance came before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The singer played the Royal Albert Hall in March 2020, in a performance that was well-received, and was later released as a live album. In the SDE interview, Ferry was asked about the possibility of more live shows, to which he responded: “Very doubtful. We’ll see how this new album goes. We could do some live presentations, but I’m not sure.”  

Reactions to the news of the album and the new single have been positive, with one fan on X commenting: “Love it. Still innovative after all these years.”

Love it. Still innovative after all these years. Love you, big man.

— Elaine McElhatton (@ECMcElhatton) February 1, 2025

Fans will be hoping for another single between now and the album’s release, and will be optimistically hoping for some live performances. The album is available for preorder here.