MCRAE, TOM - Ah, The World! Oh, The World! (Sealed) (CD)

British singer-songwriter Tom McRae releases his 8th studio album - another slice of intimate melancholy and personal confusion with the state of the world. 'Ah, The World! Oh, The World!' takes its title from Moby Dick, McRae's favourite book. McRae, former Mercury Prize and Brit Award nominee, made the album in two distinct isolated locations: an old 'sea-house' on an island off the coast of Norway, and a cabin in the Catskills in upstate New York. Both influence the sound of the record. McRae took a lap top and guitar, and set about making a record that reflected his immediate environment. "I wanted to record the songs in a more spontaneous way. To capture a live performance and then stitch sounds to those songs, and to allow for external noises to creep onto the recordings that add to the atmosphere. I don't like records that sound clean, I like to hear hiss and crackles and maybe the odd seagull or coyote. Although preferably not too close!"