We recently shared the news that Joan Shelley has a new album on the way titled ‘The Spur’ (out on June 24th via No Quarter). The album began with just Shelley and partner and husband Nathan Salsburg alone in duo form recording basic tracks. It was then sent to Chicago where James Elkington (serving as producer) wrote string and horn arrangements and brought in local musicians to perform those parts. Among the contributors are Meg Baird and Bill Callahan.
Taken from the album we can now hear Joan Shelley and Bill Callahan in their duet ‘Amberlit Morning’, watch the accompanying music video directed by Cyrus Moussavi and Brittany Nugent below.
Shelley says of the track:
“When I was a child, my father the painter would tell me the Picasso quote: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” He tried to teach me to hold on to that wonder and clear vision, but holding on proved impossible.
As I wrote this song, I watched it take on this theme of beauty and impermanence. I imagined making it a duet that would feel like a conversation between two constellations. I wanted to be sung a mythical bedtime story, one that Bill Callahan might write. So I asked him to write and sing it with me.
Could we capture that stellar perspective? – seeing the world from before we learned the sense of triumph or of tragedy; before we learned what we should be proud of or what we should fear.”
Callahan says of the collaboration:
“Joan’s guitar riff instantly sucked me into the world of the song. A world that was ongoing and ending and going on again. She wanted a little help fleshing it out, or just having someone else’s perspective on what she was looking at. I threw in some lines that she called mythical. I tend to see in myths, in dreams. I may have added a chord change, possibly at her request— the beautiful thing about the song for me is that it’s kind of covered its tracks in the snow so now I can’t remember entirely what I added or changed. Maybe that guitar riff is someone covering their tracks in the snow. I can just appreciate the mystery of the thing as a whole. Joan claims the high voice at the end is mine, the high voice covering the tracks of the low. I don’t know if I believe her.”
The video was filmed in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Co-director Cyrus Moussavi says:
“Joan shared the song and gave us the prompt “Goodnight Moon”, which led us to George Méliès’ “A Trip To The Moon” and other early 20th century film and photo renditions of outer space. Brittany and I were also inspired by amateur star-gazing clubs in New York City. There’s a romance to looking up at space from one of the brightest points on earth.”
Pre-order The Spur here: https://joanshelley.bandcamp.com/album/the-spur