Taken from their forthcoming eponymously titled album, Morton Valence‘s new single ‘Summertime in London’ is an unapologetically timeless and instantly nostalgic cut from Robert ‘Hacker’ Jessett and Anne Gilpin‘s recent collaboration with BJ Cole, due for release this week on 2 September 2022. They collaborated with photographer Andy O’Connell for the accompanying video, whose evocative black and white pictures gel seamlessly with the song.
Albeit a song that is undoubtedly embedded in London’s DNA, not least in how it sounds and feels, Summertime in London was actually written in Madrid at the onset of the pandemic by Rob. He wrote the song whilst he and his wife were stuck in a tiny apartment on the outskirts of a city which, in one day, had effectively gone from being a 24-hour fiesta to a ghost town. So unlike what the title may suggest, the song is not a sunshiny homage to a great metropolis, ‘Summertime in London’ is 3 minutes of scintillating bittersweet pathos, where our protagonist is not only reflecting on his home city from afar but a frozen moment in time, when life was simple, and it felt like the party would last forever, moments that are recalled through both rose-tinted and tear-stained glasses.
Perfect material for a late-night country ballad, or perhaps in this case… an ‘urban country’ ballad? Morton Valence are a duo who take the sound of Americana and put it through their unique London filter with an intimate authenticity of their own.
As well as producing the album, the legendary multi-instrumentalist BJ Cole also plays on the single, lending his unmistakable pedal steel guitar sound to the proceedings, and weaving his magic throughout Rob’s composition in what is quite simply a perfect symbiosis.
About Andy O’Connell
Andy O’Connell was born in Golborne, Lancashire, in 1965. He studied photography in Northwich, Cheshire, and the London College of Printing.
He has exhibited at the Photographers Gallery, Leicester Square, the Watershed, Bristol, and the Viewpoint, Manchester. Publications include the Independent, the Times, the Guardian and the London Evening Standard, Camerawork, Photographers International, Photoworks and many more. He has also produced work for Bjork, Alabama 3 and U.C.L.
Andy and Rob became acquainted in the late 90s while both were living in Brixton. Their paths crossed through a mutual connection with Alabama 3; Andy was the photographer for their classic album, ‘Exile on Coldharbour Lane’, and Rob briefly played in the band. And It’s from that period that the photos on the ‘Summertime in London’ video are taken. A period that was pretty wild, carefree, and somewhat gritty, to say the least, which is evident in this beautiful montage of Andy’s photography.
Summertime in London (Cow Pie) is released on 2 September 2022.
Morton Valence’s forthcoming eponymous album is due for release on 28 October 2022.