Sophie Ellis-Bextor announces new album with 'Breaking The Circle'

Sophie Ellis-Bextor has shared brand new single ‘Breaking The Circle’ to announce her seventh studio album HANA.

Premiered on Zoe Ball’s Breakfast show on BBC Radio 2 this morning, new single ‘Breaking The Circle’ follows Sophie’s Radio 2 A-Listed single ‘Hypnotized’ with Wuh Oh last year.

Her most recent album Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Kitchen Disco: Live from the London Palladium marked her first live LP. A pensive and spirited track with a euphoric chorus, ‘Breaking The Circle’ is the first introduction to Sophie’s new album and an official video will accompany the track soon.

“'Breaking The Circle' is inspired by those late-night moments you have, where you question everything and feel a buzz of adrenaline about what tomorrow might bring," Sophie explains. "It’s urgent and dramatic and optimistic...the perfect introduction to the new album.”

‘Breaking The Circle’ and her forthcoming album HANA were made with long-time collaborator and friend Ed Harcourt. It is their third in a trilogy of records, with each stemming around the thematic frame of a location.

The collaboration began in 2014 with the critically and commercially successful Wanderlust, which was inspired by Eastern Europe, and continued in 2016 with ‘Familia’, inspired by Latin America.

New album HANA, which Harcourt describes as “kaleidoscopic joy”, is inspired by East Asia and began with the album track ‘Tokyo’ and Sophie’s first trip to Japan pre-pandemic in 2020.

Bextor has also released her first book Spinning Plates, is in her eighth series of the successful podcast of the same name, has released her first cookbook Love. Food. Family: Recipes from the Kitchen Disco with her husband and The Feeling bassist Richard Jones.

The full tracklisting and artwork for HANA is below.

The album is available to pre-order now here.

1. A Thousand Orchids
2. Breaking The Circle
3. Until The Wheels Fall Off
4. Everything Is Sweet
5. Lost In The Sunshine
6. Tokyo
7. Beyond The Universe
8. He’s a Dreamer
9. Reflections
10. Hearing In Colour
11. Broken Toy
12. We’ve Been Watching You

EU TOUR

February - March:
28/02/2023 - La Cigale, Paris, France
01/03/2023 - La Madeleine, Brussels, Belgium
02/03/2023 - Melkweg, Amsterdam, Netherlands
04/03/2023 - Burgerhaus Stollwerck, Cologne, Germany
05/03/2023 - Kent Club, Hamburg, Germany
06/03/2023 - Kesselhaus, Berlin, Germany
08/03/2023 - Praga Centrum, Warsaw, Poland

UK TOUR

November - December:
Thur 23rd: Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion
Fri 24th: Southend Cliffs Pavilion
Sun 26th: Newcastle City Hall
Mon 27th: Manchester Bridgewater Hall
Wed 29th: Cambridge Corn Exchange
Thu 30th: Ipswich Regent Theatre
Sat 2nd: Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
Sun 3rd: Sheffield City Hall
Tue 5th: London Eventim Apollo
Wed 6th: Portsmouth Guildhall
Thu 7th: Guildford G Live
Sat 9th: Nottingham Royal Concert Hall
Sun 10th: York Barbican
Tue 12th: Cardiff St David’s Hall
Thu 14th: Birmingham Symphony Hall

She will also be performing at summer festivals this year, including Latitude, Isle of Wight, Camp Bestival and Mighty Hoopla, with further performances to be announced soon.