Elvis Costello confirmed Look Now, his new album with the Impostors, will be released on Oct. 12 via Concord Records. He said his intention had been to create material in the style of 1982’s Imperial Bedroom and 1998’s Painted From Memory – the latter of which was a collaboration with Burt Bacharach. You can listen to two tracks, “Under Lime” and “Unwanted Number,” below, and view the full track list.

“I knew if we could make an album with the scope of Imperial Bedroom and some of the beauty and emotion of Painted From Memory, we would really have something,” he said. Bacharach returned to co-write some of the new material, also playing piano on “Don’t Look Now” and “Photographs Can Lie,” while Carole King collaborated on “Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter,” which he first performed in 1999.

Much of the material has been part of Costello’s live shows for a number of years, with “Unwanted Number” having been written in 1996 for the movie Grace of My Heart, but never recorded before.

Listen to Elvis Costello Perform 'Unwanted Number'

“I had all of the orchestrations and vocal parts in my head or on the page before we played a note,” Costello said, “so it was essential that I worked closely with Steve Nieve to maintain the light and space in the arrangements and allow him to shine. [Producer] Sebastian [Krys] was there to make sure only the essential notes got onto the record, whether it was a fuzz-tone guitar or jazz bassoon.”

Costello recently cancelled six European shows as a result of a cancer diagnosis, saying that he was recovering well but the process was going to take longer than he'd hoped. His next North American tour commences on Nov. 2.

Listen to Elvis Costello Perform 'Under Lime'

Track Listing for Elvis Costello's ‘Look Now’
“Under Lime”
“Don’t Look Now”
“Burnt Sugar is so Bitter”
“Stripping Paper”
“Unwanted Number”
“I Let the Sun Go Down”
“Mr. & Mrs. Hush”
“Photographs Can Lie”
“Dishonor the Stars”
“Suspect My Tears”
“Why Won’t Heaven Help Me?”
“He’s Given Me Things”

Deluxe Special Edition Tracks
“Isabelle in Tears”
“Adieu Paris (L’Envie Des Étoiles)”
“The Final Mrs. Curtain”
“You Shouldn’t Look at Me That Way”

Elvis Costello – Look Now
Concord Records
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