Art D'ecco to Release Fifth Album SCHEELE'S GREEN
The innovative art rocker's fifth album marks his angriest and most dystopian work yet.
Ahead of tomorrow's release of his fifth album Scheele's Green (Paper Bag Records), Vancouver's Art d'Ecco today shared the album's psychedelic, art-punk title-track. Debuting via Under the Radar, d'Ecco explains: ''Scheele's Green' is a surrealist nightmare, painting a picture of isolation, fear, anxiety and rage. It's a stark impression of the urban decay experienced by the images and newsfeed we've become totally addicted to and mediated by. It's a paranoid vision of the present world with no hope for the future.'
Art is the latest guest on Exclaim!'s 'Truth or Drink' series and was also interviewed by SPILL Magazine about the LP. The title-track follows 'How Real Is Real?' 'Disappear Here,' and the fiery lead single 'The Death of Indie'–a reckoning with the tech world that earned praise and support from FLOOD Magazine, CREEM, Exclaim!, The Line of Best Fit, and Northern Transmissions, among others. Art also confirmed an album release show at Vancouver's The Rickshaw on November 20th; tickets are on sale at Eventbrite, and more live dates will soon be announced.
Scheele's Green is named for an actual color, first synthesized by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1775. With the shade previously hard to attain, Scheele's green quickly became a status symbol for the wealthy, who covered their homes and bodies in it. Just as quickly, they became afflicted with strange ailments thanks to the arsenic compounds needed for the color. Scheele's green soon became identified as a dangerous luxury the affluent were nevertheless reluctant to quit. 'It created this literally toxic society,' Art describes. 'This addiction, this allure, was such a rich narrative vein, the same way we can't look away from our obsession with social media or other technological shifts that might harm us as much as help us. We want these things that make us look hot and give us status but it's all a mirage. What if humans are just intrinsically drawn to s that fing kills us?'
In the last few years, Art assembled a mix of young music educators and jazz aficionados based in the Vancouver area as his core band: Junny Chen (guitar), Olivier Leclerc (bass), Hayden Cohen (organ/synth), Kyler Young (saxophone), Yato Noukoussi (drums). The group brought a different energy to Art's compositions, and unlocked a whole new potential. Together with co-producer Eric Shea at Vancouver's HippoSonic studio, they hunkered down for two months, achieving a gritty, downtown blend of art-rock and post-punk, played live in the room with both fervor and precision. Partially inspired by the experimentation of Miles Davis' free jazz era, they embarked on jams that led to bold, untethered arrangements. For all its raw rock 'n' roll, Scheele's Green also incorporated alien sounds and instruments, including tubular bells and a three-hundred-year-old harpsichord.
Scheele's Green ultimately finds Art reimagining the DNA and scope of his work, returning to us raw and human and with a collection of music more violent and urgent than anything he's ever recorded: 'I just wanted to deliver these feelings full-fing-throated for the first time. It's an attitude reinvention,' he says.
Photo Credit: Izzy Kazanbroot Guppy
Photo Credit: Izzy Kazanbroot Guppy
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