Videos

ART D’ECCO shares new cover of The Jam’s “That’s Entertainment”

• 24th May 2021

With his recent LP ‘In Standard Definition‘ out now via Paper Bag Records, Canadian, neo-glam art-rocker Art d’Ecco has shared a new cover of The Jam’s track “That’s Entertainment“. 

Speaking about the cover, Art said “‘That’s Entertainment’ by The Jam is one of my favourite songs of all time. My latest record “In Standard Definition” is an album all about entertainment, so I felt compelled to add this classic Paul Weller track to the d’Ecco catalogue. It forms the perfect sonic prologue to my record, written by a master lyricist and poet.”

Art d’Ecco’s new LP, In Standard Definition, ruminates on our endless fixation on TV and celebrity culture. Like channels on an old television set, each of the twelve songs on on the album 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.”

Order album here.