Arriving on September 29, the album will be the second one released by Sheeran, having already released 'Subtract' a few months earlier.
Like his previous album 'Subtract', 'Autumn Variations' was also produced the National's Aaron Dessner, and has been released via Sheeran's own Gingerbread Man record label.
In a press release, Ed Sheeran also said the following.
“Last autumn, I found that my friends and I were going through so many life changes. After the heat of the summer, everything either calmed, settled, fell apart, came to a head or imploded", the singer stated.
“When I went through a difficult time at the start of last year, writing songs helped me understand my feelings and come to terms with what was going on, and when I learned about my friend’s different situations, I wrote songs, some from their perspectives, some from mine, to capture how they and I viewed the world at that time", he continued. "There were highs of falling in love and new friendships among lows of heartbreak, depression, loneliness and confusion".
“My dad and brother told me about a composer called Elgar, who composed ‘Enigma Variations’, where each of the 14 compositions were about a different one of his friends. This is what inspired me to make this album. When I recorded ‘Subtract’ with Aaron Dessner, we clicked immediately. We wrote and recorded non-stop and this album was born out of that partnership. I feel he has captured the feeling of autumn so wonderfully in his sonics and I hope everyone loves it as much as I do".
Sheeran had previously teased the release of this album via his Instagram account, adding the cryptic message that "Autumn is coming".
