Enigmatic electro-glam androgyne Art d’Ecco has shared I’ll Never Give You Up, his first original single since his 2018 LP ‘Trespasser’. You can listen to the song here, or watch the Tiana Dueck-directed video clip via YouTube below.
“I’ll Never Give You Up has been a live staple since my very first show,” says Art. “So I’m excited to finally give it a studio birth. Sonically it’s another ode to the early 80s — tracked with analogue synths and live drumming (courtesy of Jeff Mitchelmore from Gold & Youth), we recorded with Producer Colin Stewart at his Hive Studios last summer. I honestly can’t remember what it’s about lyrically- a ghost from the past? The pursuit of times that were, or could have been?”
Art d’Ecco’s new album is slated for release later this year.
Art has joined British psych-rock quartet Temples for an extensive tour of North America. Art will also return to Austin, TX this March for South By Southwest. See below for the full tour itinerary through May 2020.
Upcoming tour dates
Jan 28: Toronto – Lee’s Palace *
Jan 30: Detroit – Shelter*
Jan 31: Chicago – Lincoln Hall*
Feb 1: Minneapolis – 7th Street Entry*
Feb 4: Vancouver – Fox Cabaret*
Feb 5: Bellingham – The Shakedown
Feb 6: Portland – Doug Fir Lounge*
Feb 7: Seattle – The Crocodile Cafe*
Mar 16-21: Austin / SXSW
May 7: Wrexham, Wales – Undegun / FOCUS Wales
May 8: Wrexham, Wales – Ty Pawb / FOCUS Wales
*w/ Temples
The Gulf Islands of the Pacific Northwest are an enigma. The islands jut up through the brisk waters of the Pacific Ocean, and just as the likes of Vancouver and Seattle exist at the intersection of opulences both natural and manmade, the islands host multitudes in their lush, hushed red cedar and Doug Fir skyscrapers. Art d’Ecco is one such multitude: an unapologetic, inclusive rock and roll mystic in a wig and lipstick.
When d’Ecco moved into his grandmother’s cottage on one of the islands, he hadn’t planned on creating a new project. But, as it often does, circumstance charted his course. His grandmother, living with Alzheimer’s, suffered a related phenomenon called ‘sundowning,’ which triggers increased agitation and anxiety around sunset. “The only way to calm this lady down was to sit down at the piano,” says d’Ecco. He would play “Bohemian Rhapsody,” passing it off as Beethoven. After she was relocated, d’Ecco remained in the empty house where he had played as a child. Draped in memory, he gravitated toward the piano, spending the long, lonesome, quiet nights on the bench before the instrument. This is where Art d’Ecco was created.
He relocated to a new cottage, built a studio and barricaded himself with copies of Deerhunter’s Cryptograms, Bowie’s Low, and choice krautrock records. In this solitude, d’Ecco would chase tones for hours. The result, 2018’s Trespasser, is a richly-realized confluence of the ferocious spark of those trailblazers and a distinct sadness, with d’Ecco as mad scientist, stitching together these delicious fragments and animating them.
