Piano rock seems to be a long-lost art form- aside from a couple of Bens (Folds and Rector), the subtle mix of ivory tickling and stick-in-your-head melodies is a thing of ’70s AM radio lost nuggets. The Lives of Famous Men nails the piano rock narrative on their new single “Darling Come Home” which Glide is premiering below off their just announced new album Greener Pasture Blues, out November 10th.
Hailing from Alaska and based primarily in Los Angeles, The Lives of Famous Men draws on wide-ranging musical traditions to create a sound all their own. This unique brand of art-pop makes for a danceable live show that’s landed them on stages from MTV’s Campus Invasion Tour to Jimmy Kimmel Live, where they performed the song You’re Everyone I Know Right Now.
Since forming in 2007, LoFM has collaborated with producers including James Paul Wisner (Paramore), Casey Bates (Portugal. The Man), and Paul Q Kolderie (Radiohead). Their single Annie Taylor became an unexpected club hit when it was remixed by The Angry Kids, and their song Orchids has been a fan favorite ever since it featured prominently in Jennette McCurdy’s short film Strong Independent Women.
This summer the band entered the studio with producer Alex Newport (Bloc Party) to record Greener Pasture Blues, out November 10. As the title suggests, it’s about coming to terms with the fact that external change isn’t a shortcut to internal change, an idea reflected in the Motown-inspired lead single Darling Come Home. In the synthy Yuri, the narrator pines for a pre-recession New York captured in a Union Square street artist’s $10 sketch, while You and Me in the PRC offers a tongue-in-cheek daydream of life in the People’s Republic of China, set against a bed of guitars and a marimba melody that recalls MTA subway chimes.
Check out the “Darling Come Home” (below) that might have you reaching for Elton John and Leon Rusell spins on Spotify due to its boisterous piano pop.
“We actually wrote Darling Come Home almost 15 years ago, and it was a staple of our live set when we were touring full-time. But when we went to record our first LP (2010’s Marigold Maxixe) it just didn’t feel like it fit sonically with the other songs on the album, so we set it aside and then sort of forgot about it. When we started pre-production for the new album (Greener Pasture Blues, out November 10), we kind of threw out the rulebook and said ‘Let’s just record the best songs we have, old or new.’ We wrote a new bridge, and changed some of the instrumentation, but the lyrics were actually quite fitting for an album that is in many ways about the struggle to be present, and to face what’s directly in front of us. I really think there’s a right moment for every song, and maybe for Darling Come Home, that moment is now,” says lead singer Daniel Hall.
Album preorder and track list
Album track list:
01 Where You Are
02 Reveling
03 Darling Come Home
04 You and Me in the PRC
05 Yuri
06 Greener Pasture Blues
07 Christopher St
