STREAM: “Dark Into Light” & “Spin It Around”
LOS ANGELES, June 30, 2011 – L.A.’s indie pop artist AM and London’s cinematic tune-smith Shawn Lee have signed a record deal with ESL Music (www.eslmusic.com ) based in Washington DC to release their debut album Celestial Electric. When Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation heard the tracks, he elbowed out a handful of labels to release Celestial Electric on his Eighteenth Street Lounge label. Says Garza, “I’ve been a fan of Shawn Lee’s music for quite some time and when I heard what he and AM had put together I thought it would be an exciting project for ESL. It’s fresh, and infectious, combining elements from many different genres.”
AM & Shawn Lee’s fortuitous cyberspace partnership began generating advance buzz several months ago when they previewed their new songs live at the SXSW Music and Media Conference in March 2011. The following month, they celebrated Record Store Day by releasing a limited-edition gold-vinyl 12-inch single on Ubiquity Records.
The collaboration of the AM & Shawn Lee musical project started after AM heard Lee’s music on the radio KJazz in Los Angeles. After reaching out to Lee, the two became quick friends, sharing a similar love for vintage grooves and ’60s and ’70s soundtrack music. The pair decided to record together after AM played guitar on a few of Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra shows (including KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic”) in the summer of 2010. Lee, armed with a four-track and other vintage tape machines in his London studio, started sending AM drum and percussion beats in December. In Los Angeles, AM wrote and recorded songs over the grooves, adding guitars, Casio synths, vocals and occasional bass. Lee added more instrumentation such as bass, keys, guitars, glockenspiel and other assorted instruments and they emailed back and forth until each was happy with the mix. They each documented their process through photos, emails and videos and they will be posting a series of “Building The Track” videos that document the behind the scenes recording process in London and Los Angeles, as they get closer to the release date for Celestial Electric on August 30.
AM & Shawn Lee :: Dark Into Light
(ESL)
Street Date: July 19, 2011
Formats: 7″ / digital
- Dark Into Light
- Spin It Around
- VIDEO: Building The Track: Dark Into Light
AM & Shawn Lee :: Celestial Electric
(ESL)
Street Date: Aug. 30, 2011
- City Boy
- Lonely Life
- Can’t Figure It Out
- Dark Into Light
- Different Forces
- Jackie Blue
- Somebody Like You
- Promises Are Never Far From Lies
- Down The Line
- The Signal
- Winter Sun
- Callahan
Links: ESL Music//Myspace//Artist Site//Facebook