(Elektra) Ed Sheeran has unveiled "Autumn Variations (Fan Living Room Sessions)," an extended version of his just-released album "Autumn Variations" featuring live performances of each track captured at surprised fans' homes during the record-setting, North American leg of his Mathematics Tour - each song title on the new collection pays homage to the fan by name . "Autumn Variations" and "Autumn Variations (Fan Living Room Sessions)" are both available everywhere now.
To further his commitment to supporting music education programs in schools, Ed is donating a portion of the proceeds from sales of "Autumn Variations" (both the original and Fan Living Room Sessions) purchased at his webstore to music education non-profit Save The Music, aiding in their mission to help students, schools, and communities reach their full potential through the power of making music.
In the days leading up to last week's release of "Autumn Variations," Ed teamed up with Save The Music on surprise visits to 5 different schools in Los Angeles and New York City, donating guitars to each of their music departments.
To celebrate the arrival of "Autumn Variations (Fan Living Room Sessions)," companion videos of all 14 intimate performances will be released at 1pm ET today on Ed's official YouTube channel.
Produced by Aaron Dessner, "Autumn Variations" marks Sheeran's seventh studio album and first full length to be released on his own Gingerbread Man Records.
Ed said of "Autumn Variations" - "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."
"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. 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."
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