1 week ago
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John Vanderslice has a long and storied career in the realm of indie rock, but on recent releases like d E A T h ~ b U g and CRYSTALS 3.0 he's been branching out into experimental electronic music. Google Earth, his band with James Riotto, blurs together those two pastimes. But on new album Focus, he's back in indie singer-songwriter mode. As he puts it on Instagram today, "I'm actually singing here, this is my first song-forward record in a looooooooong time!!!!"
Vanderslice's wife Maria wrote the bio for the album, which begins with this explanation of how it came to be:
Ideations of what FOCUS could be emerged a few years ago on a cozy night in, listening to music and doing lines of cocaine with our friends. I told John how much I loved that he was experimenting with electronica on records like d E A T h ~ b U g and CRYSTALS 3.0, completely digressing from his former style. I found it inspiring that he continued to challenge himself musically, not relying on the formulas that succeeded for him in the past. I had only one complaint: I missed his voice. John's voice was one of the first things I fell in love with years before I had even met him.
“I’m over writing lyrics," he said, "I don’t want to do it anymore. I have nothing left to say." So we agreed, that night, if I could write lyrics for him, he would return to singing.
Maria adds this note about the Focus cover art:
The cover is novel for Vanderslice in that it is the first time he has put his queer identity front and center. Over a sheer lurex shirt, John wears a pink leather garter and holds a pink peony tattooed with the word "FOCUS" in mythic Norse-style lettering, the exact outfit he wore to our last rave (minus the peony). The late nights, drugs, glitter, chainmail, and our "say yes" ethos are there, just under the lurex, or inside the petals of the shy peony, marking this specific moment in time where our love is stronger than ever and allows us to explore each other and ourselves more clearly.
Vanderlice wrote the album after moving from Los Angeles to the Netherlands. He co-produced it at his Tiny Telephone studio in Oakland with Riotto, his Google Earth bandmate. I love the sound of opening track "From The Life Of The Marionettes," which pairs his endlessly distinctive voice with acoustic strums, an electronic pulse, and lush sophistipop background sounds. "I speak in words and colors I cannot see," he sings, sounding as vital as ever. Listen below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "From The Life Of The Marionettes"
02 "Steep Land Surveyor"
03 "10.4.2022"
04 "Song For Maria"
05 "Chopped Piano"
06 "Chasing My Blues"
07 "Aquamarine"
08 "10.4.2024"
09 "Magnolia Altamira"
10 "Hold My Head"
Focus is out 8/28.
English (US) · 