Ed Sheeran Is All Done With Symbols As He Announces His New Album ‘Autumn Variations,’ Fittingly Arriving This Fall

Ed Sheeran shared – (Subtract) in May, but he’s already back with another album. The “Shape Of You” singer has announced Autumn Variations, arriving — you guessed it — this fall. As you may have noticed, the album title consists of actual words, not mathematical symbols like his previous non-collaboration albums.

Working with The National’s Aaron Dessner again, Sheeran explained that his new album consists of songs about the “highs of falling in love and new friendships” as well as the “lows of heartbreak, depression, loneliness and confusion.” His full statement reads:

“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.”

Find the album artwork and tracklist below.

1. “Magical”
2. “England”
3. “Amazing”
4. “Plastic Bag”
5. “Blue”
6. “American Town”
7. “That’s On Me”
8. “Page”
9. “Midnight”
10. “Spring”
11. “Punchline”
12. “When Will I Be Alright”
13. “The Day I Was Born”
14. “Head > Heels”

Autumn Variations is out 9/29 via Gingerbread Man Records. Find more information here.

Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.