Androgynous neo-glam art-rocker Art d’Ecco has announced his new album ‘In Standard Definition,’ which will be out April 23, 2021 via Paper Bag Records. The album ruminates on our endless fixation on celebrity and pulls back the curtain on our obsession with TV culture via lead single + video for TV God. Watch the video clip via YouTube below.
“We tune in, we obsess. We feel close. Nothing can shake it,” d’Ecco explains. “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.”
Like channels on an old television set, each of the twelve songs on ‘In Standard Definition’ presents an episodic look into the world of entertainment, our obsession with celebrity and the power it holds over us. “No matter where you live or what language you speak, there’s an entertainment god for you,” d’Ecco continues. 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, forming a musical reflection of the era it evokes.
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.
‘In Standard Definition’ struts with the striking tonal resemblance of ‘70s glam, oscillating between new wave and new romantic via C86 infusions, or the simplicity of John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band. Earning his producer stripes, d’Ecco played musical ringleader, building the tracks’ layers with a revolving door of hand-picked musicians: jazz and blues players on horns, Victoria Symphony Orchestra’s string players, soul singers, and his suited and booted live band. With shrewd attention to structure, the album’s episodic nature can be experienced in its entirety or dialed in and out, with instrumental interludes Channel 7 (Pilot Season) and Channel 10 (Reruns) aligning Lynchian drama with their sinister sounds, to capture actors’ struggles during Tinsteltown’s pilot season. “There’s a crushing blow to the heartbreak of being an actor, particularly on the west coast, the rise and fall of chasing your dreams,” d’Ecco suggests. “That repetitive cycle can be a challenge to one’s ego. The enduring highs and lows of a performer struggling to be seen. I wanted to write from that vantage point as much as I wanted to illuminate what we’re all celebrating.”
Pre-order ‘In Standard Definition’ here
‘In Standard Definition’ track list
1. Desires
2. TV God
3. Bird Of Prey
4. Nothing Ever Changes
5. I Am The Dancefloor
6. Head Rush
7. Channel 7 (Pilot Season)
8. In Standard Definition
9. Good Looks
10. The Message
11. Channel 11 (Reruns)
12. I Remember
