Robert Plant remains a musical wanderer. Throughout his decades-long career, both as a member of the iconic rock group Led Zeppelin, and later as a solo artist, he’s continued to mine sources from around the world — American blues, North African ragas, etc. — to imbue his own creations with different flavors and motifs. Today, the singer has pulled back the curtain on his latest offering from his upcoming 11th solo album Carry Fire that’s set to drop on October 13.
Titled “The May Queen,” Plant’s latest offering is driving, acoustic, roots-based rocker, finding the one-time “Golden God” adopting a defiant pose. “Out here the fire’s still burning so long into my night,” he proclaims. “Still captive and still yearning / Surrender to your light.”
Sonically, there’s quite a bit of the same DNA as some of his earlier Zeppelin work, songs like “Gallows Pole” or “Friends” especially. The title of the single might also be a subtle wink to the timeless “Stairway To Heaven” and the line from that song, “If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now / It’s just a sping clean for the may queen.”
“It’s about intention,” Plant said in a press release announcing the new album “I respect and relish my past works but each time I feel the lure and incentive to create new work. I must mix old with new.”
You can hear Plant’s new single “The May Queen” in the video above and check out the tracklist to Carry Fire below.
1. “The May Queen”
2. “New World…”
3. “Season’s Song”
4. “Dance With You Tonight”
5. “Carving Up the World Again…A Wall And Not A Fence”
6. “A Way With Words”
7. “Carry Fire”
8. “Bones of Saints”
9. “Keep It Hid”
10. “Bluebirds Over the Mountain”
11. “Heaven Sent”
