Leprous frontman Einar Solberg has announced his debut album 16 and is streaming the first single "Grotto." The single features Magnus Børmark of the Norwegian alt-folk troupe Gåte alongside Keli Guðjónsson (Agent Fresco) on drums, Tor Egil Kreken on bass, Raphael Weinroth-Browne (Leprous touring member) on cello, Chris Baum (Bent Knee) on violin.
"It's called 16 because that's when the first really, really bad things started happening to me in life. From 16 to 19, there were a lot of very life-defining moments that happened to me, and that changed me," said Solberg.
"That's when I kind of lost my innocence and I started realising that life is serious and bad shit can happen. A lot of pretty drastic things happened within those three years. But this album is not only about the bad things. It's also about some of the career-defining moments, like the moment I started playing with the band and began to find a community to belong to. Emotionally, I'm a bit of everything, so it covers the entire emotional spectrum!"
Solberg will release his debut album 16, also featuring guest spots from Ihsahn and Star Of Ash, on June 2. Pre-orders are available here.