Eddie Japan are back. All for love.
When we last checked in with the cinematic Massachusetts pop ensemble, the band was raising a fist in solidarity with Wisconsin workers unions. Now that fist is slowly unclenched and clasped around the heart, as Eddie Japan release their latest in a string of brilliant singles, a melancholic battle cry called “Albert.”
Today, the solidarity shines within.
“I first read The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus many years ago, and it’s been like a beacon in my adult life,” says Eddie Japan frontman David Santos. “I really identify with Camus’ philosophy of living in such a way that one’s life actually becomes a revolt against the futility of things — that pesky ‘we all die in the end and there is no God’ part. For Camus, effort was the key. You make your own meaning by what you do and by living with passion.”
For Santos, that passion began with one end of Massachusetts and connected with the other.
“In my life, driving 200 miles every Tuesday for Eddie Japan is one way in which I might inhabit this idea,” he adds. “There are also a handful of Camus quotes that have inspired me. One in particular appears in the liner notes of our EP Modern Desperation, Part 1: ‘My chief occupation, despite appearances, has always been love.’ I get accused of being gloomy and morose in my songs, and that’s definitely accurate! But I think anyone who is trying to create something that might qualify as art is really just looking for some form of love. I’m just poking around in the shadows for it. ‘Albert’ is a song I have wanted to write for a long time. This particular theme, along with the arrangement and sound, pretty much epitomize what Eddie Japan is all about.”
“Albert” was recorded and mixed by Sean McLaughlin at 37’ Productions in Rockland, and the track art was designed Nicole Anguish of Daykamp Creative. “Faceless heads have become a trademark of Nicole’s, but even without a face, Camus is an easily recognizable icon,” offers Santos.
Listen to “Albert” below, and feel the love on Thursday, May 28 at Atwood’s Tavern in Cambridge when Eddie Japan fill the bill on their own with two distinct sets: “One set will feature our ’60s pop, Latin brass’ side,” Santos says, “and the other our Brit rock leanings. There might even be costume changes!”
Done all for love.
