Two days after his 76th birthday, Paul McCartney released two new songs, which he calls a taste of Egypt Station, a new studio album set for release September 7.
"I Don't Know" is a doleful ballad, while "Come On To Me" is fiery, foot-stomping rock song — hear them both below.
It's been five years since McCartney's last full-length album, New, which marked a change in direction for the former Beatle. After a run of records inspired by standards and singer-songwriters, New was full of modern pop sounds. McCartney took it to another level entirely in 2015 when he teamed up with Kanye West and Rihanna on the single "FourFiveSeconds."
The new single's artwork includes vintage travel tickets, passport stickers and illustrations of sand, sky and railroads. McCartney's social media posts from June 18 suggested that his upcoming album will be titled Egypt Station, confirmed today in a press release.
And about that album title? It's not that complicated, McCartney writes in a statement. "I liked the words 'Egypt Station.' It reminded me of the 'album' albums we used to make... Egypt Station starts off at the station on the first song and then each song is like a different station. So it gave us some idea to base all the songs around that. I think of it as a dream location that the music emanates from."
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.