Sam Duckworth, the man behind Recreations and previously Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly., has released a solo album entitled Kingdoms. Recorded over the Christmas period, the digital album is available now from our shop.

You can also listen to it on Spotify and other streaming services. Watch the video for '1986' below.

Shaken and stirred by the times, Sam Duckworth is pouring songs forth at an alarming rate. Even after releasing two EPs of original material, Digital Ghettos and Beaches Ain’t Shit, a live EP (Live at LUX) and debut album Baby Boomers 2 as Recreations last year, Sam Duckworth continues to harness every drop of creativity and inspiration from current strife while mining for glimmers of positivity.

Written and recorded, on the most part, at the start of this year, Kingdoms sees Duckworth at his rawest and most urgent. He expresses getting back up, dusting himself off and continuing on more determined through strummed chords and light electric guitar lines, with the emphasis this time on Sam’s words. Largely anchored with percussive strumming, the subtle arpeggios, melodic solos and layers of colour still pop the songs perfectly. Upbeat in sound and measured in sentiment, Sam stays familiar in addressing the societal toll on community and self-confidence.

'All These Nights’ opens with the perfect summation of this, a chorus promising “all the nights that you spent working hard on regrets will not be erased but you can break the cycle if you’re willing to change”. Elsewhere, Sam revisits 2014 single '1986' for its first proper release. What once felt like a dystopian daydream, now feels all the more real: “It’s surprising we still fall, for spite on a wall.” His acoustic version of Baby Boomers 2 closing track ‘Lifestyle Concept Store’, a surprisingly moving alternative take on an album favourite. Appropriately, ‘1993’ brushes up against Britpop, giving a bright, optimistic feel to an indictment of certain elements of a younger generation who “blame immigration for the failure to coexist”.

The aroma of nostalgia isn’t ignored, but instead of wishing for bygone times like some lost mythical Albion, Sam seems both a little resigned to leaving it behind and, crucially, motivated to make the best of whatever comes next. It’s all the more convincing coming from one of the UK’s most prolific songwriters right now.

Tracklisting:
1.   All These Nights
2.   1986
3.   3rd Generation
4.   1993
5.   Multitasker
6.   Lifestyle Concept Store
7.   Wrong Way Round
8.   Mucking Around
9.   Stars

Sam Duckworth is playing some of these songs alongside his full 11-piece band performance of his debut album as Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager. Check out the remaining few dates here.

Watch a video of Sam explaining the reason for the album's existence below.