Sweet Baboo details new record Wild Imagination and unfurls dreamy first single "Badminton"

Sweet Baboo - aka Trefriw-born musician Stephen Black - is following up 2015's The Boombox Ballads with a collection of songs about looking up and forwards.

"I think everyone agrees 2016 was a pretty shitty year," Black says of the new LP's tone and content. "I kept thinking about my son (he’s nearly three) and wanting to protect him from the world, so I decided to try and make an album full of positivity because that’s what I know I can do. And at the moment, I don’t know what else to suggest. As an aside, the album was originally going to be called Positive Recordings."

"Within the honesty [of Wild Imagination] there is no agenda other than the salvation of his sanity, a man coming to terms with his existence and role on planet earth and its' forever changing wallpaper," explains collaborator and friend Cate Le Bon.

First preview "Badminton" is a bright and airy number with lilting electronics - Black's vocals drift through the mix, buoyed by hope, floating gracefully between soft tones and the chilled-out pitter-patter of synth.

As well as the album and single, Black has announced a new UK tour for this summer - tickets are on sale at 10am on 24 March.

June

• 13 - Ramsgate Music Hall, Ramsgate
• 14 - The Prince Albert, Brighton
• 15 - The Lexington, London
• 16 - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
• 17 - Thekla, Bristol
• 18 - Soup Kitchen, Manchester