London singer and songwriter Richy McLoughlin has taken a classic of English poetry as the starting point for “Days That Are No More” released on October 30th. The song is inspired by Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem “Tears, Idle Tears,” with musical themes written by Milo Rei giving Tennyson’s reflections on memory and the passing of time a new setting, carried by McLoughlin’s vocals. It introduces his album True Lovers Knot, scheduled for November 6th, which draws on classic English poetry to explore loss, love, life, and spirituality. McLoughlin says he had wanted to dig more deeply into English poetry for some time and describes the album as the fruition of that idea.
This is a powerfully mournful song, and I found the composition to be incredibly potent; it just has this momentum that accelerates as it takes you deeper into your mind with increasingly richer layers. A song about love and loss and acceptance of days that are no more and can never be again. I thought the combination of synth bass and electric guitar with the orchestral elements and those huge 80s-style drums was a perfect fit; it’s not novel, but it’s executed very well and helps to accentuate the grandeur of the song
The credits list Rei as composer and as mixing and mastering engineer, with Richard Small credited for arrangement, programming, and vocals. This isn’t their first project together: Rei also mixed and mastered McLoughlin’s 2025 album Nine Circles, so the pair has some history, and McLoughlin has been releasing music since 2024. He describes himself as a singer on a journey that began somewhat by chance. Setting Tennyson to modern production is an ambitious idea, and the full album will show how far the two of them take it.