Illinois-based singer-songwriter William Fitzsimmons is due to release his new studio album, 'Lions', later this month of February 24 and he has now opened up about one of the darker songs on the record. 

Speaking about the track, entitled 'Took', Fitzsimmons told the Rolling Stone that it's rooted in "shame" and tackles dark subject matter:

"It's about someone making a choice to carry the burden and shame for something in order to look out for somebody else. It's not kindness. It's pushing someone out of the way of a runaway train of s**t to take the impact yourself."

The singer-songwriter added that writing about such a personal situation was something he wanted to do in order to repay the person it's about: "There's indignation in the song – an anger for having to wear the black hat."

"But the final decision is still to take the hit yourself, to be the 'f**ked up' one, even if it means losing everything. Somebody did that for me and the very least I could do was to write a song about them."

Fitzsimmons is set to perform live in London next month and will headline at The Garage on March 7. On March 6 the 'Everything Has Changed' musician will perform at Brighton's Komedia.