Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker has teamed up with pianist-songwriter-producer Chilly Gonzalez on a concept album called Room 29, which will be released in March. As concepts go, this one is particularly Cockerian: The album uses “music, theatrics, clips from classic Hollywood movies, and more to reveal the secrets of Room 29 of the Château Marmont hotel in Hollywood.” Cocker handled the lyrics and Gonzalez the music, and you can listen to an album teaser—which isn’t much more than haunting piano—below:
Two tracks have been released ahead of the album, “Tearjerker” and “The Tearjerker Returns.” The lyrics in the former might have appeared in a late-’90s Pulp song, and imagine the voice of the hotel’s ghost with some humor—“You don’t need a girlfriend / You need a social worker.” It’s all set against a lovely, haunting piano tune:
“The Tearjerker Returns” adds strings but subtracts Cocker:
The album is out March 17 on Deutsche Grammophon.