AN Abercarn artist is gearing up to release his long-awaited debut album this month.

Skip Curtis, who rose to acclaim as part of haze pop band XY&O, will release his debut album Culture Violet on Monday, April 19.

The release will mark more than two years of hard work creating the record, after he began releasing solo music in late 2019. When speaking to the South Wales Argus in the same year, he said he had been spending the previous 18 months recording and re-recording the record.

In December of that year, Mr Curtis said: “I’ve written, self-recorded and produced it all. I wanted control but that means things are slower to be done when you do everything yourself and I changed my mind on one of the songs.

“So, it was finished but now I need to redo the one track.”

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The record was ready to go this time last year, however, as the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the music business lecturer didn’t feel comfortable releasing it so delayed the release, and Mr Curtis decided to do some rewrites in the meantime.

Before the release of the record, Mr Curtis will release his final single from the album – Sink Into You – on Friday, April 16. Speaking on the indie-rock inspired track, he said: “It’s a nautical love song. On Earth, there’s nothing much more powerful than the force of water, so it felt like the ideal metaphor to use when writing a song about devotion and love. Good old, powerful, forceful love.“

Culture Violet will be released on Mr Curtis’ own label Pet Shop Records.