Sting to return to rock, politics with new album

NEW YORK - Agence France-Presse

AFP photo

Sting announced Thursday that his new album will come out later this year in a return to his rock roots that will touch on the migrant crisis and climate change.

"57th & 9th" -- the title an allusion to the intersection where the "Englishman in New York" heads to the studio -- will come out on November 11, his label said.
 
The former frontman of The Police, speaking to Rolling Stone, said that the album would return to a rock sound after years of more experimental work.
 
"It's rockier than anything I've done in awhile," he told the music magazine.
 
A longtime advocate for Amnesty International and other human rights causes, Sting said a song on the album, "Inshallah," will explore mass migration into Europe and another, "One Fine Day," will attack deniers of climate change.
 
"The biggest engine for migration will be climate. Millions of people will be looking for somewhere safe," he told Rolling Stone.
 
"I'm still in a bit of a depression about Britain exiting the EU for no good reason. At least the EU has a rogram to tackle climate change," he said, referring to the landmark June 23 referendum on "Brexit."  

The 64-year-old rocker said that the album will also feature a dark ballad entitled "50,000" that he wrote when contemplating mortality after pop icon Prince's death.
 
Sting's last album, 2013's "The Last Ship," accompanied his Broadway musical of the same name that was based on his childhood memories living around shipbuilding.    

The musical was a commercial disappointment and Sting said he started working on "57th and 9th" in his unexpected free time afterward.
 
Sting has been touring North America this summer with Peter Gabriel, a fellow rock veteran, as the two collaborate on each other's songs.
 
Sting has sold more than 100 million albums as a solo artist and with The Police, who shook up pop music by incorporating a reggae sound.