Travis unveil first song from upcoming ninth studio album with animated video drawn by frontman Fran Healy

Scots band Travis have given fans a first taste of their upcoming ninth studio album 10 Songs.

A Ghost, the first single from the October release, was debuted on Ken Bruce’s Radio 2 Show earlier today.

The song also comes with a stunning animated video directed and drawn by frontman Fran Healy, with his son Clay leading the cinematography work, all done whilst in isolation.

Fran said: “The video started out as a mocked up picture of me and three ghosts playing the last chorus of the song in a deserted alleyway.

“Just when everything was ready to shoot, the world went into lockdown, so we had this great song with no way to make a video, so I decided to draw it.”

It worked out that the video would take around 30 days to make, and Fran would have to produce 2,500 drawings.

Fran added: “Most of the animation is rotoscoped, and one day I was watching a sequence back and when it got to the end, it flashed and went into live action. This was the moment I realised I could shoot the mock up picture of me playing with my band of ghosts in the alleyway.

“It was clear that filming the last 47 seconds would save me 10 days of drawing, I could recruit my 14 year old son Clay as the cameraman as he has a drone, and most importantly, we could film it socially distant.

“It was the most bizarre video shoot I have ever worked on, but it turned out great.”

Co-produced by both Fran and Robin Baynton, who has worked with the likes of Coldplay and Florence & The Machine, the new album was recorded at the end of 2019 into the beginning of 2020.

The album is described as being all about the way life comes at love and what love does to weather those challenges.

It will feature a number of cameos, including vocals from Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles following a chance exchange on Twitter.

Summing up the songwriting process, Fran said: “There’s a song on the record called ‘Butterflies’. And that’s really how I think about songwriting. These things are floating around. And you have to be very quiet, and be very quick, and be very respectful.

“You catch them, you look at them for a little while, and then you set them free again. And that’s the whole point of songs. That’s the point of songwriting.”

Travis – 10 Songs, out October 9