Androgynous neo-glam art-rocker Art d'Ecco has announced his album In Standard Definition, due April 23th via Paper Bag Records.
Canadian, neo-glam, art-rocker has announced his album In Standard Definition, due April 23th via Paper Bag Records. The first glimpse of the album is lead single "TV God" and its accompanying video.
"'TV God' is what captivates us with celebrity,"
d'Ecco explains.
"We tune in, we obsess. We feel close. Nothing can shake it. Every era, and every culture has their very own TV God. They come and go, and leave us reminiscing -- longing for that escape to distract us from our daily lives.
When the world is crumbling around us we look to entertainers and load up on celebrity super powers to rock our world and give us hope. It’s all very sad, and all too unavoidable in today’s day and age. I’m guilty of it, and so are you."
In Standard Definition is a concept album about entertainment and the way in which it affects our day-to-day lives. Like channels on an old television set, each song presents an episodic look into the world of entertainment, our obsession with celebrity and the power it holds over us.
Adding substance to immaculate style, Art d’Ecco’s latest creation, In Standard Definition, commands attention with every turn. Like channel surfing an old television set, watching grainy black and white movies or flickering slideshows starring a cross section of humanity, each all-analogue vignette holds up a mirror to pop culture and explores the curiosity of entertainment.
Lyrically blurring fact and fiction, it swaggers from the glory days of La La Land’s golden age to today’s obsession with celebrity and its hold over us all.
“No matter where you live or what language you speak, there’s an entertainment god for you,”
d’Ecco tells.
Joining forces with producer/engineer Colin Stewart (Black Mountain, New Pornographers, Destroyer) in ocean-side studio The Hive, In Standard Definition sees d’Ecco packing his heftiest punch yet. Through Stewart’s vintage set up, a decoupage of authentic sounds was recorded to 2-inch tape on a 50-year-old console. Embellished with slick ‘70s drums production, it echoes with the textural ambition of Brian Eno’s Here Come The Warm Jets or Toni Visconti on Bowie’s Scary Monsters.
“I’m obsessed with tape, film, and sounds of yesteryear, so recording could only be analogue - in standard definition - the way entertainment was once created, I wanted to go back in time, exist in a different era and breathe my creativity through it.”
d’Ecco reveals.
Ready to air its prime-time position, In Standard Definition is premiered by an artist evolving with every season. His 2018 album Trespasser was the trailer, bracing audiences for impact, and alongside its two subsequent singles - a cover of "This Flight Tonight" for a Joni Mitchell anniversary compilation, and the Gary Numan-esque "I’ll Never Give You Up" – served as tantalizing tasters on which the West Coast bit hard. An outpouring of fan art ensued, with love from critics, a live session for Seattle’s iconic KEXP, and performances at more than 75 clubs and music festivals across North America. Then, in Spring 2020, the UK’s neo-psych rockers Temples sought d’Ecco out to join them on the road.
“Trespasser was the start of a two-year ride taking me to all sorts of places I’d never been to. Seeing how different cultures interact with entertainment was the genesis for In Standard Definition.
A lot of this record was actually written on the road late at night in motel rooms - with the flickering light of a television in the background.”
With nothing standard about Art d’Ecco’s high definition world, audiences are eagerly catching up. Tune in and prepare to binge upon d’Ecco’s latest extravagant episode, just don’t get too comfortable; you never know what’s waiting on the next channel.
Pre-order album here.
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