Paul McCartney’s 1970 solo debut album McCartney found the former Beatle playing writing, recording, and performing every note by himself, save for some background vocals from his wife, Linda. After his successful run with Wings in the ’70s, he reset his career with another completely solo affair called McCartney II in 1980. Now, after 40 years, McCartney III is on the way.

Naturally, McCartney III is a quarantine album. McCartney put it together this year when life ground to a halt due to the global pandemic and he was left with lots of time to mess around in his studio in Sussex. He started working on an old unreleased track from the ’90s called “When Winter Comes” and from there began to build new layers upon other recordings he had yet to finish, overdubbing bass, drums, and other sounds atop his own basic live takes. He’ll release it in December, so now you know what to get your parents for Christmas. That’s the cover art by Ed Ruscha above.

A statement from Macca:

I was living lockdown life on my farm with my family and I would go to my studio every day. I had to do a little bit of work on some film music and that turned into the opening track and then when it was done I thought what will I do next? I had some stuff I’d worked on over the years but sometimes time would run out and it would be left half-finished so I started thinking about what I had. Each day I’d start recording with the instrument I wrote the song on and then gradually layer it all up, it was a lot of fun. It was about making music for yourself rather than making music that has to do a job. So, I just did stuff I fancied doing. I had no idea this would end up as an album.

McCartney III is out 12/11 on Capitol. Pre-order it here. A special yellow and black 333 vinyl edition limited to 333 copies is available for pre-order from Third Man.

CREDIT: Mary McCartney