Artist Of The Week #193 - Lizzy McAlpine
This week’s Artist of the Week is rising star Lizzy McAlpine - who has just released her new album ‘five seconds flat’ via Harbour Artists & Music / AWAL Recordings. Produced by Philip Etherington and Ehren Ebbage and recorded between Oregon and Los Angeles, the 14-track album includes contributions from Grammy-Award winners FINNEAS and Jacob Collier, as well as Ben Kessler and Laura Elliott.
In conjunction with the album release, McAlpine is premiering a short film featuring music videos for five of the songs on 'five seconds flat', which are connected through non-music scenes. Written by McAlpine and directed by Gus Black (Phoebe Bridgers, Sheryl Crow), the idea for a film came while she was writing songs for the new album, tracing heartbreak as a matter of cause-and-effect. Fans can watch/share the film HERE, or may be lucky enough to join Lizzy in person at an intimate screening at Odeon Covent Garden in London next Tuesday 12th April, where she will partake in a Q&A with journalist Alim Kheraj (The Guardian, i-D, Dazed) and answer questions from audience members.
Lizzy McAlpine will also be performing in London for a special SOLD OUT album release show at Camden Assembly on Monday 11th April. She’s further announced a run of UK/EU tour dates for later this year, which includes a performance at London’s Lafayette, Academy 3 in Manchester, plus shows in Dublin, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam and Cologne.
She took a moment to talk to us about how the album came together.
Hey Lizzy, how are you? So your album is out now, how does it feel to have it out there in the world?
I am definitely very relieved, we’ve been working on this album for over a year now and to be able to share it with people now feels so good.
It is called ‘Five Seconds Flat’ - what is the meaning behind that?
The whole album is about the idea that even though relationships and feelings are messy and complicated and no one really ever knows what they’re doing and it’s so easy to get hurt from that, we still seek out love because as much as it can hurt, it’s also beautiful. The title appears in the last song, “orange show speedway,” and it just means that even though love could kill you in five seconds flat, I still want that feeling back.
Where was the album recorded? Any behind the scenes stories you are happy to share with us from the creative process?
We recorded the first half in Eugene, Oregon and finished it up in Los Angeles, California. The whole journey of making this album was really interesting, and it was definitely a learning process.
What are the key themes and influences on the album?
This album is very reflective. It’s about going through a breakup, and then being alone and trying to find love again when all you’ve known is heartbreak. I think that the way I write about heartbreak on this album is way more mature than how I did on the first record and you can really hear that in the lyrics.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the album? If so, which one and why?
I think right now it’s a line from firearm: “I’m not sure you realize, the pain that you caused, I don’t feel like talking, but everyone else does.” There’s just something so painful about going through a breakup and everyone either talking about it around you or talking about it to you when all you want to do is crawl into a ball and never hear his name again.
If your album could be the soundtrack to any film, which one and why?
I mean, it’s the soundtrack to my own film that I made. I think that that’s the only answer because the storyline of the album is so specific to the short film that putting it against any other movie wouldn’t make sense. They are meant to be consumed together, side by side.
Now the album is out there, what next for you?
Album #3 and hopefully acting in some capacity. Those are the big ones right now.
