Josh Groban released a rendition of the classic “The Impossible Dream” on Friday to hype the news that his new album Harmony is coming next month.
The 39-year-old showcases his unique vocals on the song from the 1965 Broadway musical Man of La Mancha that was made famous by Jack Jones the following year.
Harmony, out Nov. 20, is Groban’s ninth studio album and features 10 well-known songs and two originals.
“Before the pandemic we recorded about five songs, with the full intention of making this an album of classics that I love and have always wanted to sing,” Groban explained, in a release. “Beautiful in its simplicity of scope. We were recording and finding songs between concerts and fully expected to continue doing that for the next couple of months.
“Then, sound was replaced with solitude. To have nothing but space, and to be sharing in a collective global tragedy, changed everything. Suddenly I was not steering the ship confidently on course. The waves had to take me to, hopefully, some sunlight. The result is an album that began to take a new shape.”
Groban said the rest of the album was made with everyone working from their respective homes and studios.
“The title of the album represents the seemingly miraculous full picture of those efforts becoming clear,” he said.”
Groban said he wrote the originals in his bedroom during the lockdown. “While they may not fit a style continuity of the project I originally had in mind, they fit what has been in my heart this very moment and are bursting with my hope for the future,” he said.
Leslie Odom Jr. and Kirk Franklin are special guests on the album, as well as Sara Bareilles, who collaborated with Groban on a version of “Both Sides Now” by Canada’s Joni Mitchell.
Check out the Harmony track listing and listen to “The Impossible Dream” below: