Liam Bailey Announces New Album & UK Tour
Shadow Town reunites Bailey with producer and songwriter Jimmy Hogarth and is released on April 24, 2026 ahead of a 7-date UK tour
“A true original with a voice that defies stereotyping”
The Sunday Times
Lead single Gold is out today and available to stream [HERE] and download [HERE]
“A true original with a voice that defies stereotyping”
The Sunday Times
Lead single Gold is out today and available to stream [HERE] and download [HERE]
Liam Bailey has announced the April 24, 2026 release of his new studio album Shadow Town, marking a new chapter for one of Britain’s most distinctive voices. The record sees the Nottingham-born, London-based singer reconnect with his roots as a songwriter, while drawing on the depth and range of a career that has quietly shaped British soul, reggae and electronic music for over two decades.
In recent years, Bailey has become a central figure in the soundclash world. As the resident reggae singer at Big Crown, with two albums produced by El Michels Affair, and heavily featured across Nightmares On Wax’s 2025 dub odyssey Echo45 Sound System. Shadow Town departs from that context to renew a writing partnership with producer Jimmy Hogarth that is more than a decade in the making.
Hogarth - whose credits include Anohni, Sia, Maverick Sabre, The 1975 and James Blunt - recorded the album in his Hampstead home studio, capturing Bailey in a deliberately stripped-back and intuitive setting. The result is a record built around voice, lyric and atmosphere, with arrangements that allow space for subtle textures rather than overt genre markers.
Guided by Hogarth’s broad riffs and rich textures, the intensity of Shadow Town wraps around Bailey’s patois-style. Whether it’s the twangy foot-stomper “Northern Lights” or the stripped-down R&B of “Gold,” the two find inventive ways to adapt the sound to Bailey’s third-generation Jamaican-English identity. It has Bailey reflecting on another British-born reggae singer in Maxi Priest, and how Priest found commercial success with a cover of Cat Steven’s “Wild World,” but Bailey feels that creatively the music industry “would never let him leave reggae.”
“I want to come out of the soundclash, sit down with my acoustic guitar, do that, and then come back to the soundclash,” Bailey says. “Why not?”
For Bailey, the departure record is more of a reunion that picks up where he left off with Hogarth on his 2014 solo debut Definitely Now. Released to marginal regard at the time, the album has quietly spoken to a new generation through the singer-songwriter moments Bailey fought for, including the Hogarth-produced tracks “Sail With Ease” and “Save Some Love.” The orchestral strings and gospel soul that shaped those songs became signposts for the folk-leaning soul sound explored on Shadow Town. This is the record they’ve always wanted to make.
While Shadow Town draws on pastoral soul and British folk influences, traces of reggae remain embedded in the music, surfacing in rhythm, phrasing and occasional studio detail. Songs such as “Northern Lights” and “Gold” foreground Bailey’s songwriting, while tracks like “Concrete and Stars” nod to his soundclash lineage without dominating the frame. Contributions from Maverick Sabre and drum & bass MC DRS reflect Bailey’s long-standing ease moving between scenes.
At the heart of the record is Bailey’s undeniable creative energy. His ability to freestyle the songwriting process encouraged Hogarth to lean into the jam and capture performances as they happened. “Trauma”, for example, emerged after Bailey picked up a psychology book from the studio library and channelled a stream-of-consciousness pop song built from its passages and his own emotional well. Whether in sombre stretches or upbeat intermezzos, their intuitive process feels alive throughout Shadow Town – Bailey, true to form, sticking his neck out as a songwriter.
Born to Jamaican and English parents and raised in Nottingham, Bailey’s voice has long resisted easy categorisation. Early support from Amy Winehouse led to the release of his first EPs on her Lioness Records imprint in 2010, while his vocal performances on tracks such as Chase & Status’s “Blind Faith” introduced him to a much wider audience. Since then, Bailey has moved fluidly between collaborations and solo work, often choosing independence over commercial momentum.
With Shadow Town, Bailey brings decades of experience into sharp focus – a record shaped by instinct, restraint and hard-won creative freedom. It reconnects long-standing influences while allowing space for something quieter, more personal, and unmistakeably his own.
“I want to sit on Graham Norton, come with the patois and the Nottingham style,” Bailey says. “Just start introducing people to other interpretations of Black people.”
Shadow Town is released on April 24, 2026 and will be supported by a 7-date UK tour.
UK Tour 2026:
May 12 Newcastle The Cluny
May 13 Manchester Academy 3
May 15 Glasgow King Tuts
May 16 Bristol Exchange
May 18 Birmingham O2 Institute2
May 19 Nottingham Rescue Rooms
May 26 London Bush Hall
In recent years, Bailey has become a central figure in the soundclash world. As the resident reggae singer at Big Crown, with two albums produced by El Michels Affair, and heavily featured across Nightmares On Wax’s 2025 dub odyssey Echo45 Sound System. Shadow Town departs from that context to renew a writing partnership with producer Jimmy Hogarth that is more than a decade in the making.
Hogarth - whose credits include Anohni, Sia, Maverick Sabre, The 1975 and James Blunt - recorded the album in his Hampstead home studio, capturing Bailey in a deliberately stripped-back and intuitive setting. The result is a record built around voice, lyric and atmosphere, with arrangements that allow space for subtle textures rather than overt genre markers.
Guided by Hogarth’s broad riffs and rich textures, the intensity of Shadow Town wraps around Bailey’s patois-style. Whether it’s the twangy foot-stomper “Northern Lights” or the stripped-down R&B of “Gold,” the two find inventive ways to adapt the sound to Bailey’s third-generation Jamaican-English identity. It has Bailey reflecting on another British-born reggae singer in Maxi Priest, and how Priest found commercial success with a cover of Cat Steven’s “Wild World,” but Bailey feels that creatively the music industry “would never let him leave reggae.”
“I want to come out of the soundclash, sit down with my acoustic guitar, do that, and then come back to the soundclash,” Bailey says. “Why not?”
For Bailey, the departure record is more of a reunion that picks up where he left off with Hogarth on his 2014 solo debut Definitely Now. Released to marginal regard at the time, the album has quietly spoken to a new generation through the singer-songwriter moments Bailey fought for, including the Hogarth-produced tracks “Sail With Ease” and “Save Some Love.” The orchestral strings and gospel soul that shaped those songs became signposts for the folk-leaning soul sound explored on Shadow Town. This is the record they’ve always wanted to make.
While Shadow Town draws on pastoral soul and British folk influences, traces of reggae remain embedded in the music, surfacing in rhythm, phrasing and occasional studio detail. Songs such as “Northern Lights” and “Gold” foreground Bailey’s songwriting, while tracks like “Concrete and Stars” nod to his soundclash lineage without dominating the frame. Contributions from Maverick Sabre and drum & bass MC DRS reflect Bailey’s long-standing ease moving between scenes.
At the heart of the record is Bailey’s undeniable creative energy. His ability to freestyle the songwriting process encouraged Hogarth to lean into the jam and capture performances as they happened. “Trauma”, for example, emerged after Bailey picked up a psychology book from the studio library and channelled a stream-of-consciousness pop song built from its passages and his own emotional well. Whether in sombre stretches or upbeat intermezzos, their intuitive process feels alive throughout Shadow Town – Bailey, true to form, sticking his neck out as a songwriter.
Born to Jamaican and English parents and raised in Nottingham, Bailey’s voice has long resisted easy categorisation. Early support from Amy Winehouse led to the release of his first EPs on her Lioness Records imprint in 2010, while his vocal performances on tracks such as Chase & Status’s “Blind Faith” introduced him to a much wider audience. Since then, Bailey has moved fluidly between collaborations and solo work, often choosing independence over commercial momentum.
With Shadow Town, Bailey brings decades of experience into sharp focus – a record shaped by instinct, restraint and hard-won creative freedom. It reconnects long-standing influences while allowing space for something quieter, more personal, and unmistakeably his own.
“I want to sit on Graham Norton, come with the patois and the Nottingham style,” Bailey says. “Just start introducing people to other interpretations of Black people.”
Shadow Town is released on April 24, 2026 and will be supported by a 7-date UK tour.
UK Tour 2026:
May 12 Newcastle The Cluny
May 13 Manchester Academy 3
May 15 Glasgow King Tuts
May 16 Bristol Exchange
May 18 Birmingham O2 Institute2
May 19 Nottingham Rescue Rooms
May 26 London Bush Hall