Lee DeWyze has as colorful a music history as almost anyone. The Mount Prospect, Illinois native won American Idol in 2010 with a heavier raspy voice and guitar tone that gave the show a blast of straightforward rock credibility. After that Wow achievement, DeWyze has continued telling his story through his earnest voice over the course of six underrated albums, that revolve around hushed melodies, zooming alt rock and introspective singer-songwriter touchstones. DeWyze has taken the artistic path of following his muse where he’s creating a discography as a career artists vs a singles star. And although he hasn’t been selling out arenas, he does maintain a vivacious fan base that follows his song output loyally.
“I find that I’m constantly evolving. I think early on in my career I had an idea of what kind of artist I was going to be, and what that would look like. The more time, songs, tours, and writing etc etc that I’ve done, I find that my music tends to take the shape of my life in any particular moment. I have always tried to convey emotion and honesty through the music as I feel thats what most connects,” says DeWyze. “The fact I’m still making music and recording in 2020 simply signals to me that I still love doing it. Until the day comes, If the day ever comes, that I feel I have nothing more to say through my music will be the time i stop or take a break from it. That said, I don’t see that anytime soon. I feel I’m entering a new era of music for myself and I’m excited to see where that goes.”
DeWyze is back with a new single and video titled “Weeds” that Glide is premiering today (below). The song features Dave Eggars on strings along with producer Nico Grossfeld who engineered and produced the song. The three musical minds found a precise balance between the different layers of instrumentation gives the song an organic vibe referencing the indie folk worlds of Bon Iver and Vance Joy along with DeWyze’s own unique storytelling and six string gifts.
“Weeds explores the nature of love and relationships and how that parallels the cycle of life. How some things can be found when you don’t even know you’re looking for them. It’s about growing and learning to be vulnerable. How a time, place, and moment can play such a crucial part in where we end up and how we got there. Weeds is about finding beauty in the most unsuspecting places. It felt very conversational to me from the very beginning and I wanted to keep that feeling throughout the song. It was recorded early in the year right before the pandemic at my personal studio here in Los Angeles, California, ” adds DeWyze.
Along with the song debut, Glide is premiering the video for “Weeds” which DeWyze describes its creative process below…
“The paper and stop motion animation for “Weeds” really lends itself to the organic feel of this song. A while back I was lucky enough to meet Stefano Bertelli. He’s an amazing animator and director from Italy. I’ve been fortunate enough to have done 2 other videos with him (Castles & Victims of The NIght), and this felt almost like the third installment of the Trilogy he and I have put together. Each video has had a life of its own but there’s always been an esthetic and an emotionally driven storyline that has tied them all together with the music driving it along . Imagine if you will, different emotions all living in the same universe of stop animation, paper and magic.”
