Seal: Listen to exclusive stream of new album '7' ahead of official release

The anger, the acceptance, bliss, sadness, elation and recklessness. These are some of the dynamics of love explored by Seal in his new album 7, due for release on 6 November.

Reuniting with producer Trevor Horn: it's the duo's first collection of original material since 2003, following on from hits such as "Kiss From A Rose", "Killer" and "Crazy".

Seal has said of the album: "It’s this emotion and the ways it makes us feel. It’s about the extreme joy and the extreme regret as well as all of the crazy things love makes us do."

"We barely spoke about music in the studio,” Seal says of his work with Horn. "We talked more about life and our relationship over the years. He just understands how to place my voice. On the one hand, you have this elaborate production and signature of Trevor Horn, but you never lose sight of what it is I’m saying.

"That’s the narrative. There’s no producer who understands how to sustain and keep focused on the narrative of my voice and what I’m trying to say better than Trevor does. He pushes me, and we left it all on the court. He taught me a work ethic and approach to making records that will stay with me until the day I die."

It's an atmospheric album and possibly one of his most sincere to date; fuelled by the artist's typical, hushed sincerity and songs that flit between euphoria and agony. Highlights are opener "Daylight Saving", "Do You Ever" and "Redzone Killer". Listen and let us know what you think in the comments.

Q&A with Seal

- You say this album explores love and all its intricacies: how do you even begin with the exploration of such a huge theme - what was your starting point?

The thing about using love as a muse to sing about is that it never really gets old. It’s one of the oldest muses to sing about, to write about, but ironically it never gets old because it’s so dynamic. Where do you begin? Well, that’s a good question. You write from the heart and you write from personal experiences and not necessarily autobiographical experiences but always personal. So things that happen in your life, yes, but also things that happen in other people’s lives. People who are close to you etcetera. The way that you see love affecting you and affecting them. And you try your best to capture that.

- What was it like working with Trevor Horn again - how has your relationship developed over the years?

Working with Trevor was the best part of it. He’s a great friend, an elder brother, a mentor. He has pretty much taught me most of what I take in my approach to music today and in life in general. Working with such a great role model like that is always going to be an enjoyable experience and one that is beneficial in almost every way.

- You take the listener on a strong emotional journey track by track, particularly on "The Big Love Has Died" and "Half A Heart" - and there's also a lot of euphoria in songs like "Life On The Dancefloor" - what do you hope the ultimate feeling to be: is this a hopeful album?

I think so. I tried to capture love in all its different dynamics. I tried to be truthful about it and as real as possible. So I tried to capture every dynamic that I could think of, every emotion that I’ve been through, that people close to me have been through, in the hopes that people would also relate to that when they hear it because obviously no one is unique when love is concerned. We all go through the same things, the faces change but the principle characters remain the same. I hoped that people would be able to relate to it.

Which song on this album means the most to you?

They all are of equal importance - I started out with about 50 to 55 songs. On this album there are only 11 on the record, so one has to then assume that they are 11 of the best songs that I had at the time.

7 is released by Warner on 6 November.