National Album Day will return on Saturday 15th October and this year will take as its theme Debut Albums, following themes set in previous years including Women in Music and the 80s.
Now in its 5th year, National Album Day aims to shine a light on the art form of the album, celebrating the creativity and artistry that goes into making an album. The Debut Albums theme will look to showcase a broad range of first album releases across multiple genres and decades – from debut recordings that have gone on to become classics to those that are perhaps only now being fully appreciated or which, years later, merit reappraisal.
Today National Album Day reveals its artist ambassadors for 2022, who will be championing their love for the album between now and the build up to the day itself. These are: multi-award winning and era-defining Scottish indie-rock act Franz Ferdinand, BRIT-nominated #1 selling rapper and musician KSI, Liverpudlian alternative-rock band The Mysterines, UK’s Eurovision winner and music phenomenon Sam Ryder and acclaimed indie-folk trio The Staves.
Frontman of BRIT and Mercury Prize winning, Grammy nominated Glaswegian group Franz Ferdinand Alex Kapranos said “What a glorious medium the album is. On the most basic level it’s a bunch of songs that sound good together, but what I love is that it is a moment in time for the artist and the listener, a way to define a period of a lifetime. It’s the long form: a novel rather than a short story, a film rather than a trailer. Sure, you can get a panel of writers to construct a song to meet the criteria of the algorithm, and that’s a distinct skill, but it will never have the complexity or richness and deep reward of a good album.”
Chart-topping musician KSI, whose debut album Dissimulation was the biggest selling debut album of 2020 said: “With an album, it’s essentially you living in the mind of an artist. What they’re thinking, what they’re feeling and how it makes me feel listening to it. Do I relate? Do I agree or disagree, what emotions do I feel? Even the instrumental can make you feel a certain way. Albums at different stages in our lives can be so pivotal and help inspire different ways of thinking or feeling and why I feel it is so important in our lives. Listening to certain albums is like looking back at history of how I was feeling in the moment in time. And the nostalgia is truly amazing.”
Lia Metcalfe – singer, chief songwriter and unapologetic ringleader of The Mysterines, whose UK Top 10 debut album Reeling was released in March of this year said: “I’m so pleased to be an ambassador for National Album Day. We released our debut album ‘Reeling’ earlier this year and it has been one of the most seminal moments in our lives. The album will remain a part of us forever, not just because it marks our first full creation as a band, but its years worth of stories, experiences and emotions weaved through the songs. There is nothing better than listening to an album in its entirety, from start to finish, in the way the artist intended it to be heard. I feel like we’ve lost that a lot nowadays, and to be part of National Album Day as an avid record listener and collector is something that is so integral to who I am.”
British singer songwriter and Eurovision performer Sam Ryder said: “I’m stoked to be a part of this year’s National Album Day! There are so many amazing albums from artists that have been a massive part of my life bringing so much joy. By listening to an album, you really get to know an artist. I’m so excited to be finally releasing my debut album this year and can’t wait for you all to hear it!”
Acclaimed indie-folk trio The Staves said: “We are honoured and excited to support National Album Day. The album format is so important and has shaped the way we listen to and make music.
Growing up listening to Beatles albums we would know them so well that we’d know not only which track was coming next, but exactly how many seconds it would be until it began, and what key it would be in.
Our debut album, Dead & Born & Grown captured what we were doing live – playing our songs with an acoustic guitar, a ukulele and three-part harmonies – and it marked the beginning of our journey as recording artists in earnest. The album took us around the world to new audiences and into the arms of talented and inspiring musicians and collaborators and we are forever grateful that it connected with people.
Albums create a world for you to inhabit as a listener, where songs are set in the context of a wider body of work, allowing for music and magic of all shades to happen until the needle leaves the record.
But albums stay with you, and you can revisit that world whenever you need to get back into it. Indeed, they shape your world, too, and become part of your life as it goes on.
Long live the album!”
National Album Day is organised jointly by the BPI – the representative voice of independent and major labels across the UK (BRIT Awards and Mercury Prize) – and ERA, the digital entertainment and retail association (Record Store Day). The event is supported across broadcast partner the BBC with highlights available to listen to on BBC Sounds, along with the UK’s recorded music community led by AIM (Association of Independent Music) and also including PPL and other trade associations, independent and specialist retailers and online and digital/streaming services
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