ELVIS COSTELLO SINGS: “I DON’T SPEND MY TIME PERFECTING THE PAST. I LIVE FOR THE FUTURE, BECAUSE I KNOW IT WON’T LAST”
Today sees the debut of “Newspaper Pane”, the fifth release from Elvis Costello’s forthcoming album, Hey Clockface.
While the previous bulletins from Hey Clockface were recorded in Helsinki and Paris – prior to the current emergency – the music for “Newspaper Pane” was written and produced in New York by composer/arranger, Michael Leonhart in collaboration with guitarist Bill Frisell and completed by lyrical verses Costello added from his westward hideout via the miracle of telecommunications.
Trumpet player, Michael Leonhart then punctuated Costello’s vocal with a wonderful horn arrangement, interweaving with Frisell’s guitar and the playing of a New York rhythm section.
Costello’s text for “Newspaper Pane” opens with a description of a woman staring at promises of an unattainable life, printed on a sheet of newspaper that she has taped to a broken window pane against the elements. The lyric moves back and forth through time and location to consider a series of fractured pledges, culminating in the declaration:
“When you get where I am now, you may feel differently
The cliff drops away sharply, falls into the sea”
The song was mixed at Bigtop Studio, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles by Sebastian Krys, Costello’s co-producer for both Hey Clockface and the preceding, GRAMMY-winning, Look Now album with The Imposters. The new song is accompanied by the latest moving picture collaboration between Eamon Singer and Arlo McFurlow.
“Newspaper Pane” – one of two such collaborations on Hey Clockface – follows the September 25th release of “Shut Him Down” by Michael Leonhart Orchestra, featuring Costello and verses from the rapper JSWISS. “Shut Him Down” will not be included on, Hey Clockface but will feature on a future release by the M.L.O. on Sunnyside Records.
The Hey Clockface album will be released on October 30th by Concord Records.
Pre-order ‘Hey Clockface’: https://found.ee/ElvisCostello_HeyClockface
