Soul artist Allen Stone announced an acoustic album, Apart, set to arrive via ATO Records on November 12. The collection boasts stripped-down versions from the Washington State-based singer-songwriter’s catalog as well as a cover of Bob Marley’s “Is This Love,” which Stone shared as the lead single.
Allen recorded Apart at Washington’s Bear Creek Studios during the pandemic with Grammy-nominated producer Ryan Hadlock (The Lumineers, Brandi Carlile, Vance Joy). The album features songs from Stone’s previous records: 2011’s Allen Stone, 2015’s Radius and his most recent LP, 2019’s Building The Balance. Apart also features a duet with singer-songwriter Alessia Cara on “Bed I Made,” from the Radius deluxe edition.
“This album was a way to pay homage to the songs that have been my foundational support for the last decade, and to also pay homage to all the people who’ve loved these songs over the years,” Stone said in a press release.
Allen also detailed the impetus behind recording an acoustic album:
The songs I love most pretty much always start out with just me and a piano or a guitar. But then when you go to record, you end up putting all this production behind them—you’re taking the original structure and adding shingles and paint and fancy windows, and eventually you can’t see the floorboards anymore. I’ve always wanted to see if I could pull it off to put something down on wax that’s just my voice and an instrument and really nothing else.
Additionally, Stone spoke about Apart lead single, a piano-driven cover of Bob Marley’s “Is This Love”:
“I heard Corinne Bailey Rae’s version of ‘Is This Love’ and thought it was the best cover song I’d ever heard, so I decided to do a cover of her cover,” Allen said. “There’s something about her arrangement and that six-eight groove that makes me want to sing my ass off. And every time I do sing it, it makes me feel like I can fly.”
Allen Stone’s “Is This Love” arrived with a George Mays-directed music video. Watch it below:
Apart Tracklist:
- Unaware
- Give You Blue
- Bed I Made (Featuring Alessia Cara)
- Brown Eyed Lover
- Lay It Down
- Consider Me
- American Privilege
- Circle
- The Wire
- Where You’re At
- I Know That I Wasn’t Right
- Is This Love
Allen Stone has upcoming support dates with Dave Matthews Band and Gary Clark Jr. on the books. Check out his tour dates below:
