Tim Heidecker, the Los Angeles-based actor, comedian, producer, musician and podcast host, announces his new album, Fear of Death, to be released September 25th on Spacebomb Records, and presents the title track with a video. The follow-up to 2019’s What the Brokenhearted Do…, Fear of Death is a Serious Album about Serious Topics – a doomed future, abandoning life in the city, and the inevitability of death. It’s Heidecker’s biggest sounding and most fleshed out album yet featuring an all star band comprised of Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering, Drew Erickson (Jonathan Wilson, Dawes), The Lemon Twigs’ Brian and Michael D’Addario, Jonathan Rado, and string arrangements by Spacebomb’s Trey Pollard (Foxygen, Bedouine, The Waterboys, Natalie Prass).
Fear of Death puts Heidecker squarely in the tradition of comedians and actors like Steve Martin, Hugh Laurie, and Donald Glover, eschewing his funny side in his music and leaving the jokes for the screen. This is an earnest departure from comedy and a collection of songs to take seriously, featuring winding guitar, slow-building percussion, gentle keys, and a 14-piece string ensemble.
“I didn’t know that this record was going to be so focused on death when I was writing it,” Heidecker says. “It took a minute for me to stand back and look at what I was talking about to realize that, yes, I am now a middle-aged man and my subconscious is screaming at me: ‘You are getting old, dude! You are not going to live forever! Put down that cheeseburger!’”
Heidecker and Mering first performed together in the summer of 2019 (a video of the pair singing “Let it Be” backstage at a charity event went viral). But their story began earlier that year when Heidecker, having just become familiar with the singer, hosted her as a guest on his Office Hours Live podcast. Months later at a Weyes Blood record release show, Erickson, Mering’s friend and keyboardist, proposed the three of them go into the studio together. “This was a Thursday night,” recalls Heidecker. “We were recording on MONDAY. The rest of the story is on the record.”
Throughout, tracks range from a bluesy and smokey nod to J.J. Cale, an uptempo ode to country living, to lead single “Fear of Death,” an upbeat take on avoiding potentially fatal choices that’s “about as ‘Dead’ as I get,” says Heidecker. Over an intricate guitar line, Heidecker’s voice intertwines with Mering’s elevative vocals as he swears off partying and risky decisions: “I don’t see the value in having fun // I think I’m done growing // fear of death is keeping me alive.” The accompanying video with Heidecker, Mering and the band was shot at Valentine Studios, LA.
“This record is a dream come true for me,” says Heidecker. “I got to work with some of the best, and nicest, musicians in town who helped me take some shabby, simple tunes and turn them into something I’m really proud of.” Occasionally, an idea with the shabbiest, simplest beginnings will grow into something more special than ever intended. With Fear of Death, Heidecker and his band of friends have achieved just that.
Fear of Death Tracklist
1. Prelude To Feelings
2. Come Away With Me
3. Backwards
4. Fear of Death
5. Someone Who Can Handle You
6. Nothing
7. Say Yes
8. Property
9. Little Lamb
10. Let It Be
11. Long As I’ve Got You
12. Oh How We Drift Away
photo courtesy of Spacebomb Records
