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ART D’ECCO shares new single
Androgynous neo-glam art-rocker Art d’Ecco is sharing another single, “I Am The Dance Floor“, from his forthcoming new album, ‘In Standard Definition‘, which is due April 23rd via Paper Bag Records.
Beneath a shimmering disco ball and atop a giant patchwork light up floor, “I Am The Dance Floor” with its bouncy bass line, beckons us all to be free and join d’Ecco where he is evidently most at home, on stage in the middle of the lights, camera and action. “I was picturing this alt version of Saturday Night Fever where the lead is this aging loner obsessed with dance, who every weekend shows up at different clubs around town and just murders the dance floor, and then disappears out the back door.” says d’Ecco. “There is a person from my home town who sort of fits this description quite well. I think every scene has their own version of Random Dancing Dude.”
His new LP, In Standard Definition, ruminates on our endless fixation on TV and celebrity culture. It pulls back the curtain on our unhealthy obsessions, as illustrated by lead single/video for “TV God” released last month and second track/video, “Head Rush” that has made an impact at radio with over 35 stations across North America adding and featuring the track and it was featured on Hockey Night in Canada this past weekend.
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. Working 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.
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. “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.”