Yesterday, I heard a song that had been catching my ear lately playing on KEXP's John in the Morning show. Though dj John Richards is good about announcing each song and adding interesting info about the band which is certainly not a given these days, it is handy to have the playlist online. I scribbled down the name of the song, "Dark Into Night" which is on a new release called Celestial Eclectic by AM & Shawn Lee. It's a lovely, meditative track with floating vocals (Turn the wrong into right/Turn the dark into light) which will be perfect for the slow-paced resolution of my next playlist. Happy to have captured another fave song, I went about my day. Tuning into KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic later, who should be in studio for a live session but AM & Shawn Lee. This collaboration between LA singer/songwriter AM and London-based producer/multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee actually began when AM heard a song by Shawn Lee on the radio. AM Googled him and a friendship formed over email. It wasn't until AM gave Lee a ride after a previous KCRW session that they decided to work together. The two traded tracks long distance and are now on tour with Thievery Corporation (tour info here). Watching the video is always fun, as preconceived notions of what musicians look like go right out the window. It's clear, however, that these two musicians enjoy each other's company in every way. As Lee put it during the interview with KCRW's Jason Bentley, "We upped each other's game."
KCRW session here.
Free download of "Dark Into Night" via Rolling Stone here.