Keith Urban has unveiled what will likely be the first new track off his upcoming LP Graffiti U with the track “Parallel Line.” Reminiscent of a Nineties slow jam, yet couched in contemporary Ed Sheeran-style intimacy, the tune spotlights Urban singing the verses in a higher register and giving the pleading lyrics a keener sense of urgency.
“Take a little bit of my heart tonight, no I literally don’t mind, just please don’t misplace it,” he sings, with the song’s title hook suggesting that “we put our hearts in a parallel line.”
The new song follows the recent performance of the #MeToo-centered “Female,” but it’s as yet unknown whether that track will be included on Graffiti U since Urban is still tinkering with the sequencing of the cuts on the record, which will the Grammy-winning musician’s ninth studio album since his 1999 debut on Nashville’s Capitol label. While a release date has yet to be revealed for the album, Urban has shared some of the inspiration for its unique title.
“The sound of words is a big thing to me – Ripcord was like that, Fuse was like that. Fuse and Ripcord denoted a certain kind of energy in the word to me,” he tells Rolling Stone Country. “‘Graffiti’ to me felt very uninhibited, artistic, liberated expression. ‘Graffiti’ to me is a blank canvas and pure artistic expression upon that.”
The “U” in the title, he notes, conjured multiple meanings for the singer. “I was toying with the letter ‘U,'” says Urban. “Obviously it’s the first letter of my last name, but I liked that when you say it, it’s also the word ‘You.’ For me, that’s the listener, that’s the audience.”
Urban is gearing audiences up for a 58-city trek that begins June 15th at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in St. Louis. Also slated on the Graffiti U World Tour are 10 shows in Canada.
(via Billboard)
