Rick Springfield has announced his 21st album. Automatic is due on Aug. 4.
He’s previewing the new album with two songs, the title track and “She Walks With the Angels,” which you can hear below. Automatic is available for pre-order on autographed CD and vinyl via TalkShopLive.
Springfield played all of the guitars and keyboards on the upcoming album himself. “That’s the most joy that I have is playing instruments in the studio. I’m sure there are other players who would play it way better, but I enjoy doing it, so I do it,” he tells UCR. “That’s been my thought all through my recording career. I mean, I played a lot of instruments on the very first album. It’s not an ego thing, it’s just an enjoyment thing.”
Written and produced by Springfield, Automatic features 20 new songs he describes stylistically as falling in between his ’80s albums Working Class Dog and Tao.
Topically, he focused on his three favorite subjects (love, sex and death), while returning to his love of guitar-based power pop and keyboards. “My goal was solid three-minute tunes with the biggest hooks I could come up with,” he said in a news release.
Listen to Rick Springfield’s ‘Automatic’
Automatic is dedicated to Matty Spindel, a friend and soundman of 25 years who died in 2022. “His loss is something that will be felt by me, my band and the entire touring family for a long time,” Springfield commented. “She Walks With the Angels” was also inspired by his memory.
Spindel “passed away a few weeks before I wrote this song for him,” Springfield said in the same news release. “I used the feminine [wording] because he was very in touch with that side of himself. There are secret references all through the song that are very Matty.”
Springfield will use the new songs to help introduce Automatic, promising that they’ll be in the setlist as he hits the road this summer for his I Want My ’80s summer tour. Those dates begin on Aug. 4, the same day the album will be released.
Listen to Rick Springfield’s ‘She Walks With the Angels’
Rick Springfield, ‘Automatic’ Track Listing
1. “Exit Wound”
2. “She Walks With the Angels”
3. “Come Said the Girl”
4. “Automatic”
5. “Broke House”
6. “This Town”
7. “When God Forgets My Name”
8. “Heroes”
9. “Love Ain’t Cool (Sha Do Wup)”
10. “Works for Me”
11. “Fake It Til You Make It”
12. “The Cure for Loneliness”
13. “Invisible World”
14. “Make Your Move”
15. “In Case of Fire Break Glass”
16. “Did I Just Say That Out Loud”
17. “Someday I Will Fly”
18. “Neutron Star”
19. “Feed Your Soul”
20. “We Are Eternal”
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