Yes guitarist Steve Howe is releasing Love Is, his first solo album since 2011’s Time, on July 31 via BMG Records. The album features Yes vocalist Jon Davison on harmonies and Dylan Howe on drums.
The album comes as a CD in a gatefold digi-sleeve with a 12-page booklet, and a black vinyl 180gm LP with a gatefold sleeve, lyrics and liner notes. Love Is is currently available for pre-orders via Steve Howe’s official store.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“I called the album Love Is because it hints at the central idea that love is important but also love of the universe and the ecology of the world is very important,” said Steve Howe. “Alexander Humboldt went around the world and recognized we are destroying the planet but that was 200 years ago! We are still destroying the planet and, I suppose, my songs show the yearning I have for the love of nature and how beauty, art and music all stem from nature. There is a theme about those things, love, beauty, ecology, nature and wonderful people.”
Howe plays electric, acoustic and steel guitars on the album, along with keyboards, percussion and bass guitar. The track listing for Love Is, which consists of five songs and five instrumental tracks, is as follows (* for instrumental):
- “Fulcrum” *
- “See Me Through”
- “Beyond The Call” *
- “Love Is A River”
- “Sound Picture” *
- “It Ain’t Easy”
- “Pause For Thought” *
- “Imagination”
- “The Headlands” *
- “On The Balcony”
The process usually starts with Howe writing in his own studio, and then he collaborates with Curtis Schwartz for further engineering and mixing. “We expand the tracks and put them on Pro Tools and everything starts to be possible,” said Howe. “At some point, probably around 2 years ago, Dylan came down to Curtis’ studio and we recorded the drums on some of the tracks. I could see a balance of five instrumental tracks and five songs and there was a feeling that it was an album, sitting there, looking at me.”