Listen to Lunchbox’s “Gary of the Academy” via Week in Pop; After School Special is due 10/30 on Slumberland
STREAM: “Gary of the Academy” –
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Listen to Lunchbox’s new single, “Gary of the Academy,” via Week in Pop. Check out the premiere here. After School Special is out on October 30, 2020 via Slumberland Records.
Regarding the origin of the single, Lunchbox stated: “The song is Donna’s ode to a cat who lives at a research institute in Berlin where we were in residence for a few months in the middle of recording the LP. The recording was broken up by a number of international trips. Donna fell in love with this cat — “Gary” — who lived at the Academy but, like her, didn’t really belong. She sings to Gary about their shared-outsiderness, recounts their secret travels and reminds Gary of other worlds, known only by cats and cat-adjacent humans, that lie just beyond daily experience.”
Bio:
Lunchbox’s Tim Brown and Donna McKean have been making records in their Oakland, California basement for two decades, inspired by 1960s/70s AM-radio pop and TV show theme music, punk, C86, and mod à la The Creation and The Jam. From the sonically-inventive indiepop of The Magic of Sound (1999) to the dub-influenced psychedelia of Evolver (2001) to the critically-acclaimed bubblegum of Lunchbox Loves You (2013), the couple have established a sound all their own.
Their new album for Slumberland, After School Special, finds them at the height of their powers of songcraft and performance. Donna’s bass playing stakes out stylistic territory somewhere between Carol Kaye and John Entwistle while Tim’s guitar is equal parts 12-string jangle and clipped Orange Juice-esque funk. Horns by Gary Olson (Ladybug Transistor) and longtime collaborator Jeremy Goody drive the record from beginning to end. Evelyn Davis’ delay-drenched keyboards combine with whispers of analog tape feedback to give the record an otherworldly vibe in keeping with its lyrical themes.
There, favorite seasons (autumn) and animals (cats), appear alongside love and death, ghosts and reincarnation. From the shimmering opener “Dream Parade” to the horn-driven mod-pop of “Hide and Seek,” the groovy sixties R&B vibe of “I Really Wanna Know” and the haunting male-female vocal stylings of the album-closing title track, the textures shift while the unity of artistic vision remains. Catchy as hell and beautifully packaged, After School Special is Lunchbox at their very best.
Lunchbox
After School Special
(Slumberland Records)
[pre-order the LP here]
Street Date: October 30, 2020
Track List:
1. Dream Parade
2. Over Way Too Soon
3. Gary of the Academy
4. Utopia
5. Hide and Seek
6. I Really Wanna Know
7. Before and After
8. Three Cheers for Autumntime
9. Melt Into Air
10. It’s Over Now
11. After School Special
LUNCHBOX LINKS: