Andy Summers Announces New Album, 'Triboluminescence'

Former Police guitarist Andy Summers will release a new album, Triboluminescence, March 24 via Flickering Shadow Productions. The album, his 14th solo effort, promises to be his most introspective work to date; it also epitomizes a musical form that Summers calls “new exotic.”

“Triboluminescence is actually a scientific word that means creating light from dark, which I believe is a great metaphor for any creative act and, especially, music,” Summers says.

“I felt compelled to follow up the record I made last year, Metal Dog, where I was trying to go into a new territory—with not just a straight-ahead jazz or jazz fusion or rock or pop, but something very much my own genre. This record results from a lifetime’s worth of receiving influence, digesting it and trying to create a new voice. I feel like I’m taking the Metal Dog album and moving on from there and trying to expand the writing, the tonal palette and this idea that I have about creating new music.”

The album finds Summers drawing upon influences from around the globe, taking the listener on a sonic journey that begins with “If Anything,” a majestic piece featuring Summers’ guitar with endless layers of rich tone and never-ending sustain. The journey ends with a track called “Garden of the Sea,” which is the result of sessions Summers did with cellist Artyom Manukyan.

“'Garden of the Sea' is played with a reverse looping effect—it’s like playing into a mirror,” Summers says. “And when you set the cello against that, you get this beautiful, pastoral effect. It’s a lullaby at the end of the album.”

Triboluminescence Track List:

• “If Anything”
• “Triboluminescence”
• “Adinkra”
• “Elephant Bird”
• “Shadyland”
• “Haunted Dolls”
• “Gigantopithecus”
• “Pukul Buny Bunye”
• “Garden of the Sea”

Stay tuned for more information, and be sure to visit andysummers.com.