Paul Weller has said that age has made him more “experimental” and “open-minded”, ahead of the release of his new album. 

Weller’s new record ‘66’, announced back in February, is set to be released on Friday (May 24), the day before the Modfather’s 66th birthday. It is the former frontman of The Jam’s 17th solo album and his 28th LP in total since launching his career back in 1977. Pre-order it here. 

In a new interview with Record Collector (via Yahoo! News), he reflected on reaching this stage of his life. “I don’t want to keep going on about my age but one thing that is very nice about getting older is that you can experiment,” he said. 

“The older I get, the more open-minded I get.” 

[embedded content]

Weller discussed how he recorded the album as a series of individual tracks over the course of the last three years, without a clear vision of the record’s eventual direction. 

“I wasn’t conscious of what mood it is or what mood I’m in because it was written over the course of three years at different times with different people,” he added. 

He has released the singles ‘Soul Wandering’ and ‘Rise Up Singing’ ahead of the album’s release, which will reportedly see the musician delve into topics including “faith, changing circumstances and the fractured realities of life in this turbulent age”. The album also includes features from Madness frontman Suggs, Bobby Gillespie and Noel Gallagher. 

Weller has announced his first North American tour in seven years, kicking off in Red Bank, New Jersey on September 6, and taking in 14 further dates, wrapping at Los Angeles’ Orpheum Theatre on September 27. See the full list of dates here and find your tickets here. 

Weller also recently said that he believes The Beatles split at the “right time”. While discussing how the Fab Four “changed the world for many, many people, me included”, he added: “You move on, you experiment, and it has to be said, The Beatles broke up at the right time. I was devastated back then, but I’m glad they did now. Imagine them going through synth pop in the ‘8os. It would have been shocking.”