Premiere: A.C. Newman and Neko Case get together for these gorgeous new videos, and Newman tells us about them
La Blogotheque produces some of the most amazing music videos on the web, including their "Take Away Shows." Today, we've got an exclusive co-premiere with Blogotheque of some gorgeous new A.C. Newman songs, all of which feature Newman's New Pornographers bandmate Neko Case. They're called the "Hudson River Sessions," and the songs performed are all from Newman's new album, Shut Down The Streets. Newman sent us some thoughts about each one, which you'll find below. Below that, the videos. Enjoy.
"I'm Not Talking"
A.C. Newman: "This song is fairly self-explanatory in its narrative. In between family tragedy and the approaching birth of my son, I found myself in a strange in between space where the things I had always strived for (perfect happiness, success, being the best at what I do) were suddenly not nearly as important as just holding onto what I had."
"Encyclopedia of Classic Takedowns"
ACN: "This one is a fractured retelling of a breakup in the summer of 1995 that really crushed me, combined with the story of my uncomfortable place as a musician trying to sell himself and maintain a career. In love and your career, you find yourself sometimes striving for things that you don't want, since you don't really know the difference between habit and love, hence the line 'I didn't mean to live that many lies.'" The title is a slightly-self mocking ode to my tendency towards oblique self flagellation in my songs."
"There's Money In New Wave"
ACN: "This one is for my baby son Stellan. I was imagining him as a teenager and couldn't help but wonder where I would personally be then. Would I still be playing music? Would I have any useful advice for him? The title is obviously a useless piece of advice. In that sense, it is about my fears that I won't be a good enough father, and that I will be fumbling trying to teach him what he needs to succeed. The fear that there might be the same awkward space between him and I that there was between my father and my self. Too much unsaid. It also touches on the idea that I might embarrass myself by saying too much. You can't win. It also came out of listening to Sirius XMU. Everything sounds like '80s new wave now. Nothing wrong with that. I'm just saying. You got to go where the money is."