The Melancholy Kings have released “UV,” the latest single from their sophomore album ‘Her Favorite Disguise,’ out now via Magic Door Record Label. A quasi-psychedelic musical journey drawing from Thomas Pynchon’s postmodern novel “V,” the track weaves rock, psychedelia, rap, and classical strings into a kaleidoscopic whole, featuring trumpet improvisations from Mac Gollehon (David Bowie, Al Jarreau, Duran Duran, Mick Jagger, Hall and Oates), cello arrangements by Carolyn Jeselsohn, and soulful vocals from Olivia Selig. Produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Ray Ketchem (Guided by Voices, Luna, Elk City) at Magic Door Recording Studio in Montclair, New Jersey, the album also features Elk City vocalist Reneé LoBue, accordionist Carl Riehl, and Ketchem on percussion.
The core of The Melancholy Kings is singer-guitarist Mike Potenza and bassist Scott Selig, Manhattan corporate world colleagues who discovered a shared history in the nineties and early 2000s NYC indie scene before rededicated themselves to music, rounding out their lineup with drummer Paul Andrew and guitarist Peter Horvath. Potenza is direct about the ambition behind “UV”: “I wanted both the music and lyrics to embrace multiple genres like the book and the main character, who transforms in many unexpected ways. So we worked in rock, psychedelic, some rap and a classical vibe with the strings, and the lyrics being purposefully impressionistic. This kind of mixture with a lot of different things happening, but in the end comes together.” Selig adds that from the start they wanted “a kaleidoscope of aural ear candy, with trippy effects, multiple guitar layers, electric piano, strings and horns.”
The accompanying video juxtaposes colourful outdoor band performance footage with black and white vignettes shot on 16mm film, featuring filmmaker Madeleine Grace Smith as a V-like figure moving through indeterminate time periods in and around New York City, ultimately joined by beatniks, punks, flappers, and intellectual revolutionaries in a bacchanalian nod to the novel’s Whole Sick Crew, with cinematography by Jordan Miller. ‘Her Favorite Disguise’ is available now on limited edition 12″ vinyl and all digital platforms, with The Melancholy Kings playing their official album release show at The Meat Locker in Montclair, New Jersey on March 21.
The Melancholy Kings Tour Dates:
March 21 – Montclair, NJ – The Meat Locker