Following the release of an incredible EP as part of the experimental post punk band Bloodslide, multileveled artist AJ Lambert gears up for the release her new album, Manhattan Beach, Swept By Ocean Breezes, which includes new renditions of songs by Duke Ellington, Mr. Twin Sister, Alec Ounsworth (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) and Gene Simmons among others.
Naturally, AJ, in a similar manner as her mother Nancy Sinatra and grandfather Frank, is an imaginative creator who injects her own personality into the material she covers. A few singles which came ahead of the album confirm that, while the latest one, When You’ve No Eyes, originally by Alec Ounsworth, frontman of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is no exception.
AJ says of the song and video which she directed herself. “I first heard this song in 2010, shortly after it came out. I had never heard Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, so Alec's voice and writing was a surprise to me. I was taking a train from the bottom to the top of Australia as part of a trip I was on before I had to have brain surgery. I thought I may as well live a little in case I wasn't around after that. This song played a lot over those 4 days.
"The video has taken several forms in my head, but the one constant was that I knew I wanted to incorporate a vast landscape that felt like it might be the end, the end of life, end of the world...something like what I was feeling at the time I first heard this song. At one point I thought it would feature me trying to find the pink blob of bubbles that you see at times, but in the end I decided it might be more fun to just watch it explore on its own, along with its little friends. The song seems quite prescient now, of course, in that it talks about how there's disease and hatred always, but that there's still the wine even if the toast spills."
Manhattan Beach, Swept By Ocean Breezes comes out February 11th, 2022.
AJ Lambert US Live Dates
Feb 11: Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon (record release show)
Feb 18: Chicago, IL @ Hideout Inn
Feb 26: Toledo, OH @ Peristyle Theater (w/ Toledo Symphony)*
* Only the Lonely: A Tribute to Frank SInatra show
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