Sweet Illusions

Sweet Illusions
Studio album by
Peter Capaldi
Released28 March 2025[1]
Recorded2023 – 2024[2]
GenreRock[3][4]
Length45:29
LabelLast Night From Glasgow
ProducerDr. Robert[2]
Peter Capaldi chronology
St. Christopher
(2021) 		Sweet Illusions
(2025)
Singles from Sweet Illusions
  1. "Bin Night"
    Released: September 2024[5]
  2. "Is It Today"
    Released: November 2024[6]
  3. "Sweet Illusions"
    Released: January 2025[2]

Sweet Illusions is the second album by Scottish actor, singer, and guitarist Peter Capaldi. The album was released on 28 March 2025 on the independent label Last Night From Glasgow and was produced by Dr. Robert.

Background

Sweet Illusions, like his debut album St. Christopher (2021), was produced by Dr. Robert of The Blow Monkeys,[7] who is also from Glasgow, Scotland.[4] Both albums were released roughly fourty years after Capaldi quit music in favor of an acting career.[8] In an interview with the NME, he referred to Sweet Illusions as having "quite a nostalgic feeling about it... It’s a bit art studenty, Glasgow, 1978".[9]

The album has been broadly categorized as rock music.[3][4] Personally, Capaldi has cited bands from 1980s Glasgow[10] and Frank Sinatra[11] as influences on the album. Furthermore, following its release, he revealed some of his favorite albums in an issue of Uncut Magazine, singling out Simple Minds' debut Life in a Day (1979) and Sinatra's That's Life (1966).[12]

Singles and release

The album's lead single, "Bin Night", was released in September 2024.[5] Capaldi has referred to the song as a lullaby, describing how a mundane activity such as taking out the trash provides a sense of control upon becoming a grandfather.[11] Two more singles, "Is It Today" and "Sweet Illusions", followed in anticipation of the album.[6][2]

Sweet Illusions peaked at no. 3 on the Scottish Album Charts, and although the album did not place on the main UK albums chart, it did peak at no. 4 on the Independent Albums Chart.[13]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Mojo[14]
Record Collector[3]

In a review for Mojo Magazine, John Aizlewood said "It's echo-drenched, but embraces new wave with the title track’s Stranglers-esque keyboards and the Alarm-style guitars which course through the near-spoken 'The Big Guy', while 'Bin Night'... suggests Capaldi can tame a big gravelly ballad. It’s not without grit either, and... it's clear Sweet Illusions is more than another lovey dalliance."[14] Steve Pollock of Record Collector thought "Capaldi's charismatic vocal [is] the star of a nostalgic set which calls to mind Tom Waits or Leonard Cohen on the elegiac ballads 'Hanger Lane' and 'Bin Night' [and] Jim Kerr on the strutting 80s rocker 'Is It Today'".[3]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Peter Capaldi.[14]

Sweet Illusions track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Is It Today"3:32
2."Hanger Lane"3:34
3."Not Going Anywhere"3:22
4."Sweet Illusions"3:47
5."The Big Guy"5:22
6."Bin Night"4:34
7."The Best of Me"3:33
8."Something to Behold"3:39
9."Through the Cracks"6:04
10."Diminished"3:14
11."No One in the World"4:48
Total length:45:29

Charts

Chart (2025) Peak
position
Scottish Albums (OCC)[13] 3
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[13] 4

References

  1. ^ McLean, Pauline (22 February 2025). "Peter Capaldi: I've come back to music again after 40 years". BBC. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d "New Music Discoveries 24th January: Krystal Rivvers, Andrew Gurruwiwi Band, Peter Capaldi, and more". The AU Review. 24 January 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d Pollock, Steve (May 2025). "New Albums: Peter Capaldi – Sweet Illusions". Record Collector. No. 570. London, UK: Diamond Publishing. p. 103. ISSN 0261-250X.
  4. ^ a b c McLean, Craig (26 March 2025). "Peter Capaldi on his new album: 'I like the idea very much of being a musician'". The List. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  5. ^ a b Trainer, Paul (25 October 2024). "Peter Capaldi on the Glasgow sound behind his new album and his admiration for cousin Lewis". GlasgowWorld. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Peter Capaldi – Is It Today". Last Night From Glasgow. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  7. ^ Babey, Ged (30 November 2021). "Peter Capaldi: St Christopher – album review". Louder Than War. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  8. ^ Britt, Ryan (31 March 2025). "One 'Suicide Squad' Star Just Made a Major Career Change". Men's Journal. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  9. ^ Bassett, Jordan (18 October 2024). "Peter Capaldi on Oasis, his new album and love of 'fat guitars'". NME. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  10. ^ Trainer, Paul (1 March 2025). "Exclusive: Interview: Peter Capaldi on seeing Simple Minds at the Mars Bar and the sound of Glasgow in the early 1980s". GlasgowWorld. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  11. ^ a b Capaldi, Peter; Jonze, Tim (9 April 2025). "'The people of Glasgow frowned on all the spitting': Peter Capaldi on his punk rock past". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  12. ^ Capaldi, Peter (May 2025). "My Life in Music: Peter Capaldi". Uncut. Maidstone, Kent, UK: Kelsey Media. p. 122. ISSN 1368-0722.
  13. ^ a b c "Peter Capaldi | Artist | Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  14. ^ a b c Aizlewood, John (June 2025). "Filter Albums: Peter Capaldi – Sweet Illusions". Mojo. No. 379. London, UK: H Bauer Publishing. p. 80. ISSN 1351-0193.
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