Tom’s 9th studio album is an album of duets with some of his favourite Frenchartists. McRae decided to collaborate on these 11 new songs with various artists as a way of acknowledging his deep love of French music, and deepen his relationship with mainland Europe, following Britain’s disastrous decision to leave the EU.Tom’s debut album went Gold in France in 2001, selling over 60,000copies, and he has divided his time between Paris and Wiltshire since 2021.Says Tom: “I grew up being intrigued by classic French songs. Beforestreaming services made all music readily available, only the huge crossoverpop songs made it across the channel, but while my friends were listening toVanessa Paradis, I was listening to Serge Gainsbourg. It seemed exotic,adventurous, and to be from another planet, let alone a country only 21 milesaway from my own.”During Covid, McRae released a single with his Belgian friend, Wannes Cappelle, a reworking of one of Tom’s songs in English and West Vlaams, as well as an album of duets with a Welsh artist, Lowri Evans. Both projects sparking his interest in collaboration with other artists.“It’s not been a great time to be British since 2016”, says McRae. “We’vebecome politically, economically and culturally isolated since Brexit - and Iwant to show that I feel more of a European than simply just an Englishperson.”“But mostly this album, Étrange Hiver, is about beautiful songs, some inEnglish, some in French. Sung as duets with friends (some establishedartists, as well as some new or undiscovered voices) and creating 11 littleemotional moments in a crazy world. Some cinematic, some more intimateand personal, all of the songs addressing the important things in life: love,loss, political populism, impending climate collapse... written at a time whenit feels as if the world may never escape from this long, strange winter. “Artists duetting on this album with Tom include: Keren Ann, Chien Noir, Clou, Alex Beaupain, Rose, Naya, Vanille, Helena Noguerra, Alma Forrer, Aïtone, Julien Brocal, and now more are lining up to sing with Tom on a volume 2.
