Paul Simon is working on a new album tentatively titled, The Seven Psalms, at Manhattan's Reservoir Studios. The news was broken via a Facebook post by singer Barbara Fasano, who was coincidentally also recording at the studio complex and tracking a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's 1968 standard, "Old Friends."
Simon's upcoming album comes as a surprise as the soon-to-be 81-year-old singer/songwriter had previously said that he believed his record-making days were over. The Seven Psalms will be follow up to 2018's In The Blue Light, which saw him re-recording overlooked gems in his solo catalogue and marks his first new material since 2016's Stranger To Stranger.
Fasano posted about the Simon team up on Facebook writing, "Around 4:00, there was Mr. Simon having lunch in the communal kitchen, & I introduced myself & said I was sorry to interrupt, but we were actually about to record his song. His face lit up & he was on his feet, walking into our studio. Everyone got introduced & Paul Simon pulled out his guitar & coached us on voicings & instrumentation. In a crazy surreal moment, he began to play OLD FRIENDS on the same guitar he’s been playing on his solo records for 50 years, while I sang along. He stayed with us for nearly an hour. And then we laid down OLD FRIENDS, now sprinkled with pixie dust by this American icon."
(from pulseofradio.com)