NOTHING less than absolute royalty of the US alt.rock scene, Lou Barlow, formerly of Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and Sentridoh, The Folk Implosion, is set to grace our ears with his first solo album in six years – and you can watch the video for the first single drop herein.
That album, Reason To Live, will be out on May 28th via Joyful Noise, and comes preluded with the heartfelt loveliness of “Over You”, which is possessed of a lo-fi class that seems to ring down the decades to Big Star and points in between.
Lou says of the song: “‘Over You’ is based on one the first songs I captured on cassette back in 1982 or so. I’ve managed to save almost everything I recorded back then, and I decided to resurrect and recreate a few things for my ‘Artist Enabler Series’ for Joyful Noise in 2019.
“I used some of the original lyrics: ‘I knew everything about you.. I knew nothing about you’ and built on that feeling. Since the melody had followed through the years since I recorded it, it came together quickly. I went as far as recording the basic tracks of the new version on to cassette in an attempt to mimic the atmosphere of the original.
When considering the video I talked to my wife, Adelle, about things in our lives that we’ve never been ‘over.’ We moved from California six years ago, a place that we both loved.
“We started compiling home videos from our times living there (17 years in my case) and scenes from some 80s’ movies that were filmed in LA. When we combined the footage it seemed to work with the song.
“I can’t say that I was thinking about anything specifically when I recorded “Over You”, it came from the general longing of my teenage years, but I can definitely say I miss the golden state.”
Now back in Massachusetts with his wife and three kids, Lou has finally reconciled domesticity and the rock’n’roll and that informs his new album.
“People have this vision of me as this heartbroken, depressed guy, but this record feels so true to who I am, to this rich life I now have full of people I love,” he says.
“The songs culminated over the last five years to show that music has returned to its central comforting role in my life. Now I’m home.”
Lou Barlow’s Reason To Live will be released by Joyful Noise digitally, on CD, on light pink cassette and on pale blue vinyl on May 28th; you can get your order in either at Bandcamp or at the label’s webstore.
Connect with Lou Barlow at his website, on Spotify and Apple Music, and on Twitter and Instagram.
