New York, NY (Top40 Charts) On November 13, Au Pair, a collaboration between Gary Louris of The Jayhawks and Django Haskins of The Old Ceremony, will release their debut album One-Armed Candy Bear via Sham/Thirty Tigers. Earlier today, Wall Street Journal premiered the video for the album's first single "In Every Window," stating "It's as weird as the song is catchy."
WATCH: Au Pair - "In Every Window" via Top40-charts:
"It's kind of 'I Am The Walrus' meets the Monkees with a little touch of Man Ray. A fun way to spend an afternoon," Louris told WSJ's Eric Danton. "I've made a lot of bad videos in my time so in comparison I'm happy with this one. Sometimes it is better to have a very small budget."
Stereogum first premiered the song upon the album's announcement and called it a "bright, breezy pop song... its appeal is obvious and immediate." On Tuesday, Relix premiered "Waiting For The First Time," the second song to be released from the album.
Au Pair strikes a balance between classic songcraft and cheeky experimentation on their debut album, One-Armed Candy Bear. The core of the album consists of the duo singing and playing into a single microphone like a Memphis Sun session. But then they take some strange turns: body percussion, feedback loops, avant guitar, Kraut rock touches, anything goes in the world of Au Pair. This openness was encouraged and enhanced by producer and secret weapon Brian Haran, who recorded the album at his studio in Durham, NC.
Gary and Django met in Chicago in 2013 where they were performing as a part of a "Big Star's Third" concert, which celebrated the influential band's music with original drummer Jody Stephens, Mike Mills (REM) and many others. It was a fitting start to a musical friendship, as the Third record similarly takes catchy songs and throws them over the cliff into beautiful weirdness and existential dread. Gary and Django's first song, "King of the Valley," written in a hotel room in North Carolina, tells the story of a football player with a traumatic head injury. "Sullivan's Ghost" takes on the voice of brilliant but curmudgeonly Chicago architect Louis Sullivan, while "One-Eyed Crier" unfolds like a lost Salinger story.
Au Pair began as a happy accident, developed into a laboratory of joyful experimentation, and now with One-Armed Candy Bear you can hear first-hand what happens when two vital songwriters take the odd way home.
Tour Dates:
11/21 - Santa Monica, CA @ Morgan Wixson Theater
01/05 - Decatur, GA @ Eddie's Attic
01/09 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle Back Room
01/29 - New York, NY @ Joe's Pub
01/30 - Vienna, VA @ Jammin' Java
02/05 - Chicago, IL @ Old Town School of Folk Music
02/06 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
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