THIS DESTINATION
GARY KEMP FINDS THE WAY ON HIS MOST ACCOMPLISHED BODY OF WORK TO DATE
Great British Songwriter Gary Kemp is set to return with his third solo album, This Destination, out on January 31, 2025, through East West Records.
The guitarist, songwriter and co-founder of Spandau Ballet has been touring worldwide with Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets since 2018, alongside bandmate and fellow host of the renowned podcast Rockonteurs, Guy Pratt.
Outside of music, Kemp, who studied at Anna Sher’s Children’s Theatre, has acted on-screen and stage in a number of TV, Film and Theatre productions - including a starring role in 1990’s British crime thriller The Krays alongside his Brother and Spandau Ballet bandmate Martin Kemp. In 1992, Kemp appeared in the Hollywood blockbuster The Bodyguard, starring Whitney Houston and in 2015, he performed in Jamie Lloyd’s West End productions of Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming, Party Time and Celebration.
Kemp’s new body of work follows on from 2021’s INSOLO. This Destination is his most personal to date and sees the songwriter channel his thoughts and feelings about the past, present and future through the guise of uncanny storytelling and character work. The album is simultaneously semi-autobiographical and an exercise in empathetic scene-setting.
The announcement comes alongside the release of the anthemic single “Put Your Head Up.”
This Destination puts on show the culmination of a lifetime dedicated to songcraft. The album features intricate and deliberate arrangements, including strings by the renowned John Metcalfe (formerly of The Durutti Column and more recently string arranger to the likes of Peter Gabriel, Blur and U2).
A special Dolby ATMOS mix of the album, created by musician Steven Wilson, will be available alongside the release. Wilson uses spatial audio mixing, which creates an immersive sound by placing audio elements into a three-dimensional space. The effect is a stunning recreation of how we hear sound in the real world. Wilson is the renowned master of this.
This Destination features keys and backing vocals by longtime collaborator Toby Chapman, who co-produced the album alongside Kemp at London’s Reformation and RAK studios.
The aforementioned renowned bassist, Guy Pratt - who handled rhythm section duties for Pink Floyd circa 1987 onward - was called upon to play bass on some of the songs. Pratt’s previous work includes performances and cuts for Madonna, Roxy Music, The Smiths and Womack & Womack, to name a few. The album’s closer features throat-singing by the Mercury Prize-nominated Sam Lee.
Lyrically, the 11-track offering marks a journey in discovery for Kemp, who, in the years following the pandemic, hit an unexpected wall of anxiety and a lapse in self-belief. This Destination is the soundtrack to the artist navigating his way back to familiar surroundings.
The first song composed for the album was the arresting and cinematic “Take The Wheel” - a piece of music which evokes the vivid imagery of a couple leaning forward against a windscreen trying to see the road through the rain.
Kemp pleads, “Is there anybody out there who can take the wheel?”. The lyric is a genuine call for somebody, anybody, to step in and take over.
The symmetry in the writing process came in the form of the very last song penned for the album, its title track, This Destination. Kemp said, “It’s about my relationship with music. Whatever I’m going through, whatever conflict arises, the process of making music is my resolution. That’s my destination.”
Elsewhere on the album, Kemp reflects on his relationship with the City in which he’s spent his life. “Borrowed Town” reckons with the notion that London belongs to no one. The ever-changing cultural hub is something we all inhabit but can never claim ownership over. Kemp says, “London is in constant flux. When you live here, you’re just borrowing it for a time.”
Kemp also recalls a remarkable moment in the album’s conception when a spell of writer’s block was broken by an unexpected intervention by a fellow musician. He’d been sitting by the piano for hours to avail when the phone rang:
“It was Richard Hawley. We chatted for a while and I told him I’d been going round in circles trying to write something that day. He said ‘Okay, here’s what you do. Go over to the piano and sit down’”. Kemp obliged. “‘Put your hands out over the keys. I’m going to go now, and you’re going to write a fucking brilliant song.’”
Sure enough, the encounter led Gary to produce the McCartney-esque “Work” - a semi-autobiographical tune in which he celebrates the unsung heroics of a parent’s everyday life. In “Work,” Kemp embarks on a trip down memory lane in an evocative account of his Mum and Dad’s working life. He says, “I remember going into the factory with my Dad one morning. I have this vivid recollection of the moment he put his brown overalls on over his clothes. To me he was Superman putting on his cape.”
The song's outro builds into an uplift of staccato strings while Kemp repeats the mantra “Got to make it work.” The statement almost takes on new meaning with each repetition - partly summarising the song’s narrative whilst also acknowledging the pressure we put on ourselves in every aspect of life, from relationships to health issues to career decisions.
It’s on the album’s final track, “I Know Where I’m Going,” that Kemp reaches his resolution. He sings, “I know where I’m going; I plan to take a rest there.” Clearly, Kemp finds his peace of mind on the album’s full circle moment. He said, “It’s the most personal on the record… It had to go last - it just made sense”.
Through a combination of his own stories and stories imagined, Gary Kemp has certified himself as one of the country’s greatest songwriters. This Destination is out January 31, 2025, on East West Records.