Patrick Wolf is celebrating 10 years of making music with the release of the double-album, Sundark & Riverlight, featuring re-recordings of songs from Wolf’s entire catalogue, out September 25 on Bloody Chamber Music/Essential Music. In conjunction with the release, Wolf will be embarking on a world tour, kicking off in London at The Old Vic Theatre on August 29. The tour arrives in North America on September 18 at World Café Live in Philadelphia, wrapping in Los Angeles, October 5 at the FILTER Culture Collide Festival. Woodpigeon will support all dates, except September 21 in New York and September 22 in Boston, which will feature Mice Parade.

Of the album, Wolf stated, “This project started when I realised I had reached a 10 year jubilee as a recording artist. My first EP came out when I was 19 and in the 10 years hence, my voice has grown with me. I started out playing with just one instrument and singing with no microphones in folk clubs, on the streets and galleries. I missed that raw communication so much and the spontaneous energy of that live situation. When I went to the studio I thought I was going to record a one-man solo album, but I started to dream, and heard bassoons and bodhrans. This is my first totally acoustic album and so I made certain that we were working with analogue tape and recording equipment. I went on a mission to find a grand piano with the best bass response still full of character and I was told about Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, but the piano there was too new for me. So Peter lent me his Bosendorfer Grand and later his bodhran and hammer dulcimer – the album and I are very grateful.”

Sundark & Riverlight highlights Wolf’s skills as a songwriter, arranger and vocalist, recreating his catalogue which has delved from folk to pop to industrial over the course of five full-length albums. Instead of simply picking the songs which were released as singles from each full-length, Wolf chose the songs that he felt relevant to him today. Said Wolf, “As a songwriter I realised that some songs take on a life of their own once released. I never knew that “Paris” from Lycanthropy would become such an anthem for my crowd. Often when I sing the songs live after they are recorded, new words or meanings come to light then I improvise depending on how I am feeling that night. I thought it was time after ten years to take a moment to understand and document what these songs have grown up to be while I’ve been traveling them around the world the last decade.”