‘I Need You Like The Sun’ by Be | New Album, ‘Here’
Exclusive video premiere of ‘I Need You Like The Sun’ by Be, taken from the latest album, ‘Here’.
American abstract artist and Hawk bandleader David Hawkins recently released the stunning third album of his orchestral art-rock supergroup Be, ‘Here,’ a lush and intricate song cycle inspired by The Beach Boys’ classic ‘Pet Sounds’ and dedicated to Brian Wilson, though one can also hear traces of mystical Beatles psychedelia and The Velvet Underground’s tangled hum among its influences. (A companion album, ‘There,’ featuring Hawkins’ recordings in Morocco with The Master Musicians of Jajouka led by Bachir Attar, the legendary Moroccan Sufi Trance band known for their collaborations with Brian Jones, the Rolling Stones and Ornette Coleman and 2023 recipients of the Kennedy Center Gold Medal of the Arts Award, is due out next year.)
Besides Hawkins, ‘Here’ features rock luminaries Morgan Fisher (Mott the Hoople, Queen), Brian Wilson’s musical director Paul Von Mertens, the legendary drummer Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello, Elliot Smith), guest vocals by Gary Louris of the Jayhawks among others, and was mastered and co-mixed by Mike Hagler (Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Mekons). With the highly anticipated Here, Hawkins’ musical vision continues to expand, again proving himself to be a formidable rising voice in American music.
Hawkins began writing and recording ‘Here’ in the fraught early days of the pandemic, crafting the songs and arrangements for days on end, absorbed in the process. Over the weeks and months, as he added layer after layer and started incorporating the other musicians’ parts, it evolved into a rich musical tapestry. There’s a lush dream-like quality and otherworldly beauty to the album, with moments of touching vulnerability and of the raw emotions we all felt in those first weeks of COVID.
With themes like the triumph of love and hope in the face of our deepest fears, of yearning for deep connection with others and with the Spiritual, one catches glimpses of mystical vistas in these songs. Cosmic harmonies shimmer atop tapestries of timpani, brass and orchestra, punctuated with electronics, mellotron, vibes and even harp. Mertens’ vibrant horn arrangements and delicate finesse of the woodwinds shine, and he and trumpet player Max Crawford, both fresh off Wilco’s phenomenal Yankee Hotel Foxtrot residency in New York City, add a bright warmth and power with their lines, with the whole ensemble delighting us at every turn. This is a rich and dense song cycle full of depth and wonder.
The album kicks off with ‘I Need You Like The Sun,’ a tangly raga drone that quickly escalates into a VU- inspired primal pounding groove, with squeals of e-bow guitar and spoken word murmurings while Hawkins’ vocals transcend the din with their emotional intensity.
The video was conceived, directed and edited by frontman David Hawkins, who also handled the special FX and shot it in Joshua Tree, CA and Taos, New Mexico. Here’s what he had to say about making it: “I originally recorded this song to go on ‘There,’ the companion album to ‘Here’ due out next year, which will feature the recordings I did in Morocco with The Master Musicians of Jajouka led by Bachir Attar, the legendary Sufi trance group known for their collaborations with The Rolling Stones, Brian Jones, and Ornette Coleman among others. Originally the song was more ethereal and meditative, but once we added the drums and noise guitar parts, it took on all this energy and I decided to use it on ‘Here’ and make it the opening track. There’s a raw power to it that I just love, and it kind of captures the bristling chaos of life lately – and especially the yearning of those early days of the pandemic. In the video, I wanted to match the psychedelic and almost abstract feeling of the song, so we shot the performance parts at sunset in Joshua Tree, CA and Taos, NM and then I blended in several layers of film afterwards, including a sacred mandala animation and several clips of flames to create a dense and undulating texture that I think really captures the essence of the song and its tangled nest of emotions.”
‘Here’ is truly a world in itself and an album for the ages. Written during one of the darkest moments in our collective history, it shines with the brightness of the sun and is destined to be an instant classic.
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