One of the risks of taking a vacation when you write a blog like PopCult is that really cool stuff will happen while you’re away from the computer, so you have to wait until you get back home and catch up with other work before you can mention it.

Case in point: While I was exploring the grand tourist traps of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, Sir Paul McCartney announced the release of a new album this September, and unveiled animated lyric videos for two of the songs. Die-hard, and casual Beatles fans have probably already seen these several times, but I’d be remiss in my PopCult duties if I didn’t tell you about them here.

The new album is called “Egypt Station,” sharing its name with McCartney’s cover painting, and evoking a sense of an exotic trip as a loose concept. The lead single, which you can see above is “Come On To Me,” a crunchy rocker that recalls elements of “Spies Like Us,” and “Got To Get You Into My Life.” Below you will find the video for “I Don’t Know,” a slower ballad in the mold of many of McCartney’s previous compositions.

At right you can see the new album cover, painted by Sir Paul, side-by-side with an early 1980s album cover by his former Beatle cohort, George Harrison.

I just put these two together because the color schemes go so well together. George’s “Gone Troppo” album cover was created by Bonzo Dog Band drummer, “Legs” Larry Smith.

It’s been an eventful few days, as McCartney appeared on Carpool Karaoke (seen at the bottom of this post), confirmed that work on a deluxe reissue of The Beatles “White Album” is well underway, and found himself in the middle of a PR stunt as Damon Albarn accused Kanye West of trapping Sir Paul into appearing on his 2015 album, just to use his name.

Ironically, Albarn made that accusation on the same day that his new album dropped, betraying a little more West influence than he’d probably want to acknowledge.