Battersea based classical guitarist Milos performs his new album at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon

An award-winning classical guitarist who was forced to stop playing after a feared career-ending injury is returning to the stage to perform his new album.

Montenegro-born Battersea-based Milos is back with his fourth studio album, Sound of Silence, which is set for release on September 13 before a performance at Fairfield Halls, Croydon on Wednesday, October 2.

In 2016 Milo, pictured above, was struck by an inexplicable but devastating hand injury. Unable to play, he was forced to pull out of multiple engagements and studio dates, with no real sense of when or if he might recover.

At the highest point in his career, the multi-award-winning musician reached the lowest point in his life, and he says this inspired Sound of Silence.

Milos travelled across Europe seeking help from experts and went through a variety of treatments, but each time, after an initial improvement, he would end up feeling weaker.

During this time he eventually found a doctor in Zurich who set him on the road to recovery.

Milos said: “There were wonderful audiences waiting for me in concert halls everywhere, from the Royal Albert Hall, to China and Japan, Australia and New Zealand, USA; the craziest dreams were coming true. And then this: I couldn’t play a note.

“One step at a time, with an insane amount of patience and analysis, I finally understood the issue. It was not all about my hand… It became clear that I had suffered an intense burnout, too – first physically, from work overload, and then mentally, from the psychological pressure to recover.”

This album is Milos’ personal reflection on this time. It includes classical guitar pieces he played while rebuilding himself from the ground up, as well as beautifully varied songs he listened to when he had to rest and escape from it all.

Milos’ very own takes on songs like Portishead’s Sour Times, Radiohead’s Street Spirit and Leonard Cohen’s Famous Blue Raincoat sit alongside guitar pieces by Pujol and Tarrega.

Star saxophonist and friend, Jess Gillam joins Milos for two melancholic duets, as well as hang player and regular collaborator of Bjork, Manu Delago, for a very special take on the classic song Nights in White Satin.

The whole record is a moving snapshot of an outstanding artist in full grasp of his extravagant musical gifts at a critical moment in his life and career, now set on an exciting new path.