Steven Lambke is marking the 10th anniversary of You’ve Changed Records, the label he co-founded in 2009 with Daniel Romano, in exactly the way you might expect: he’s releasing an album. Dark Blue will be out later next month, but today Lambke has treated us to a lyric video for “Fireworks,” the album’s first single.
While the title “Fireworks” might suggest Lambke is elating in the brighter moments of being an artist, and he’d have every right to, the song recognizes that there are peaks and valleys to the creative process.
“There is great hope and comfort in the idea of things repeating. Its comforting and it makes sense,” says Lambke, “But there is also great hope in the idea that you will break out of that cycle and everything will be new.”
“I wrote this song very quickly, and when I first demoed it I played the descending bass line myself on the guitar. It seems impossible to me now, my hand twisted into painful shapes. It was the last song we recorded for the Dark Blue album, Daniel Romano playing drums, Dave Nardi playing bass. Daniel added the organ, I added the handclaps and percussion, Daniel and I played the lead breaks together. It’s one of the only times I’ve doubled a vocal, but I like it, and I like how that doubling intersects with the ideas of repetition and recurrence.”
To create the video, Lambke turned to Toronto-based graphic designer Paul Henderson. Lambke had previously worked with Henderson to create the album art for his Days of Heaven album and other You’ve Changed alum including Partner and Shotgun Jimmie.
“Being a big fan of his collage work, both in print and in video, I called Paul Henderson to ask him If he’d be willing to put together a lyric video for the song. His first response of ‘What’s a lyric video?!?’ and ‘Why the ** would anyone do that?’ were not the best of beginnings. Yet, in the true spirit of the song, we started over, and the results would prove that Paul had come around to the idea.
Paul found some great imagery that shows a cyclical experience of time — the gears, and clocks, and orbiting planets — and contrasts them with imagery of linear experience — explosion, erosion. And the old footage of scientists with antiquated devices lightly places the sincere search for understanding into a place that is gently comic.
The portrait footage was filmed by Colin Medley for another project we abandoned, but found it’s home here. I think it helps, gives some kind of grounding to the song, gives a face to the ‘I’ in the song,” says Lambke.
In the words of Pablo Picasso, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” To create consistently, we must be as constant as the tides and just pray that our lucky numbers spark some fireworks.
Dark Blue will be released by You’ve Changed Records on March 29th.
Tour Dates:
04.11.19 – St. Catherines, ON @ Niagara Arts Centre *
04.12.19 – Toronto, ON @ The Burdock *
04.14.19 – Guelph, ON @ Kazoo Fest (matinee)
04.14.19 – Hamilton, ON @ The Abyss *
* = w. Ian Daniel Kehoe