In a few weeks, Meric Long of The Dodos will release ‘Barton’s Den,’ his self-produced debut album for his new synth-driven solo project entitled FAN. Long gives another peek at the album with the cinematic new single What A Mistake and its music video. “The song is about communicating with someone after they’re gone, through the imprint they’ve left on some object that they once owned,” explains Long. The accompanying Charles Villyard-directed music was inspired by “The Little Screens,” an art installation of photographs of 1960’s TV sets by Lee Friedlander. Watch the video via YouTube below.
Meric Long will release ‘Barton’s Den’ on May 4th via Polyvinyl Record Co. Pre-order it here.
FAN will perform this Saturday, April 28th in Meric Long’s hometown of San Francisco at Swedish American Hall with Wild Pink and Dana Buoy. Get your tickets here.
FAN was never supposed to exist. After singer/guitarist Meric Long had spent the majority of his career as one-half of indie rock duo the Dodos — time that saw the release of several acclaimed albums (including, most notably, 2008’s Visiter) and tours the world over — Long was compelled to put his band on pause following the passing of his father and subsequent birth of his first child, choosing instead to prioritize life over music. But for a lifelong musician, it’s nearly impossible to separate the two for very long.
Following his father’s death, Long inherited two synthesizers from his dad — instruments he began playing in the purest sense of the word, with no particular purpose in mind other than the sheer enjoyment of seeing what kind of sounds he could make them produce. Still grieving over the the loss of his parent, the time spent on a Yamaha AX60 and Realistic Concertmate MG-1 helped bridge the gulf of their abridged relationship. “I’ve had a lot of regret about not overcoming the space that existed between us,” says Long. “I would have liked to get to know him more. I think working with the synths he passed on was a way to continue the conversation.”
These extemporaneous sessions took place across a vast swath of time and space: two weeks spent completely alone in Galicia, Spain, at his mother-in-law’s cottage in the woods, a week holed up in a Portland basement during a blizzard, nights in a soundproofed Oakland garage (the titular ‘Barton’s Den,’ after Long’s middle name) once his newborn daughter had gone to bed. For Long, these periods of isolation became one of the defining factors in the creation of FAN’s debut full-length.
For a musician who had spent many years primarily playing guitar, the shift to writing with synthesizers was initially daunting. “I have such a specific approach to guitar, and have been doing it for so long that breaking away from that felt like a huge, scary leap.” Though Long initially had no intention of turning the electronic soundscapes he was creating in seclusion into actual songs — much less a proper album — listeners of ‘Barton’s Den’ will undoubtedly be grateful he decided to share these intimate moments with the world.
