Gabriella Cilmi confirms first album in 13 years, shares new single “YRU Hanging Around”

The news follows the arrival of the title track earlier this year, which saw a Radio 2 premiere from Gary Davies and set up a run of shows including a packed Great Escape set and a nationwide tour as special guest to Beverley Knight. Now with a fresh collection of songs finished on her own terms, Cilmi is returning to the industry she first entered as a teenager. Recorded live to tape at Middle Farm in Devon under a harvest moon, Pure Love is the sound of an artist jettisoning outside expectation. Producer Peter Miles oversaw the sessions, with contributions from Anna Krantz, Justin Parker, Anu Pillai, DJ Yoda, Julia Church, and Jonny Henderson, among others. The palette leans into deep soul, jazz, and classic rock, the kind of organic setting that gives Cilmi’s warm, throaty contralto room to stretch. Cilmi described the record as something she’s been working towards for years. “Pure Love is the record I’ve always wanted to make,” she said. “The songs and lyrics are more unfiltered and the recordings have a rawness to them so I feel like it’s the most pure record I’ve made... I like to think of the songs like ripe fruit finally ready to be consumed after lots of watering, tending,...