Dean Wareham, formerly of Galaxie 500, Luna, Dean and Britta, has recorded his first solo work, a mini-album titled Emancipated Hearts, which has already been released in the US on Double Feature and is set to follow in the UK on Sonic Cathedral on November 4. Ahead of that, we’ve got a first look at the Lucas Celler-directed video for album opener ‘Love Is Colder Than Death’, which is currently out as a limited edition single on clear 7" vinyl – have a watch above.
After relocating to the West Coast, as well as appearing in Noah Baumbach’s film Frances Ha, earlier this year, Wareham recorded the LP with Jason Quever of San Franciscan indie outfit Papercuts, who’s previously worked with Cass McCombs and Devendra Banhart, and had supported Wareham on his solo tour of Galaxie 500 material in 2010.
For the record, Wareham took lines from poems, films and newspaper headlines as a starting point to build songs from; with ‘Love Is Colder Than Death’, New German Cinema pioneer Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s debut feature was the leaping off point. Says Wareham: "It’s not a great film, but is a memorable title. I also took inspiration from children’s nonsense poetry – for the line, ‘Cats and mices have their vices.’"
The title track (listen below), meanwhile, took inspiration from more contemporary source material: "As I sang this I was thinking about Julian Assange. It also paraphrases Orwell who wrote in 1984, ‘He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.’"
Emancipated Hearts will be released on limited edition orange 10" vinyl and CD; head to Sonic Cathedral’s website to pre-order and take a look at Wareham’s upcoming tour dates at the foot of the piece.
DECEMBER
Wed 4 – Ruby Lounge, Manchester
Thu 5 – St. Pancras Old Church, London
Fri 6 – St. Pancras Old Church, London
Sat 7 – Point Ephemere, Paris
