PAUL Thomas Saunders includes The Joiners on his UK headline spring tour on Sunday.

The run of ten shows coincides with the release of his debut album, Beautiful Desolation last week through Atlantic Records.

Written and recorded in Leeds, it was produced by Paul and his bandmate Max Prior and mixed by Craig Silvey (The Horrors’ Still Life, Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs).

Paul, a former member of Lichfield Cathedral school choir and Leeds College of Music, recorded the album in a hotel gatehouse on the outskirts of Leeds, before moving down to Hove where he currently lives.

He had to say about the record: “The album is called Beautiful Desolation, it’s a phrase I appropriated from Buzz Aldrin upon his first few steps on the Moon (thanks Buzz).

“I decided it was the perfect title for my first LP about a year ago, I could hear how I wanted the album to sound by repeating that phrase like a mantra.

“All the colours, emotions and idiosyncrasies of the human condition. It's a record I hope will help you with any demons you have, that's why I wrote it...”

Beautiful Desolation is an atmospheric record, driven by this unique artist’s soaring vocal.

  • For a full interview with Paul Thomas Saunders, see tomorrow’s Your Entertainment.