aaamusic | On 21, Oct 2011

GAVIN DEGRAW TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM,

SWEETER, ON 14 NOVEMBER 2011

21 October 2011 – US platinum-selling singer, songwriter, and musician Gavin DeGraw will release a brand-new album, entitled Sweeter, through Sony Commercial Music Group on 14 November 2011. Having already made his mark on this side of the Atlantic with his single “I Don’t Want To Be” (famously featured as the theme song for the Channel 4 television series One Tree Hill) in 2005, this album release marks DeGraw’s much awaited return to the UK.

Fresh from his recent US tour with TRAIN and Maroon 5 this will be Gavin DeGraw’s fourth album release. The album, Sweeter, finds the New York native — beloved for his blue-eyed soul vocals, freewheeling melodies, and earthy charm — experimenting with new sounds, which resulted in a potent, swaggering strut, both musically and lyrically, on sexually charged songs like the R&B-infused “Sweeter” and “Radiation”. The racier moments are balanced out by more emotionally transparent songs like the vigorous “Not Over You”, and the uplifting “Soldier” and “You Know Where I’m At”, which convey a vulnerability while still managing to feel distinctly masculine.

“The question for me became, ‘How do you expose your vulnerability without seeming like somebody who gets kicked around, and at the same time, describe your ability to get past something without sounding cocky,” Gavin says. “That’s always tricky, because you know you’re being judged on the lyrics and they’re all very personal.”

Gavin decided that his best strategy was to shrug off any expectations and focus on the songs, working with co-writers for the first time as a way to broaden his horizons, such as Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic), who also co-wrote and produced “Sweeter”, and Andrew Frampton (The Script, Natasha Bedingfield). He also worked with a host of top-notch producers including Butch Walker (Weezer, Avril Lavigne), Eric Rosse (Sara Bareilles, Tori Amos), and Ron Aniello (Barenaked Ladies, Matt Nathanson).

“Co-writing with other people changed everything for me,” Gavin says. “Not only did it open my mind to new ideas, but it changed the way I wrote on my own. Playing all these different styles with other musicians led me to think about things differently when I was working by myself. I was able to tap into things I do live, dabbling with some of that late ’60s, early ’70s R&B stuff; I was able to record all the styles of music that I like and put them on one album. It was great to take my leash off and experiment. Although it doesn’t stray too far from what I’ve done, I think it’s the first album I’ve made that has caught my true sound.”

Gavin first broke through with the 2003 release of his debut album, Chariot, which sold over a million copies, earned platinum certification, and yielded three hit singles: “I Don’t Want To Be”, “Follow Through,”, and the title-track, “Chariot”. Gavin’s self-titled second album debuted at No. 1 on the US digital sales chart and at No. 7 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart in 2008, earning Gavin his first US Top 10 album. It spawned the hit singles “In Love With A Girl”, which Billboard dubbed “a rocking homerun,” and the gold-certified “We Belong Together”. In 2009, Gavin released Free as a gift to his die-hard fans clamoring for recorded versions of Gavin’s live favorites. Gavin has made numerous appearances on television shows like The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Live with Regis & Kelly, Good Morning America, and many others.

SWEETER – FULL TRACKLISITING

1. Sweeter

2. Not Over You

3. Run Every Time

4. Soldier

5. Candy

6. You Know Where I’m At

7. Stealing

8. Radiation

9. Where You Are

10.Spell It Out

Please visit www.gavindegraw.com for new music and more