NASHVILLE |JANUARY 9, 2009
FR: ALEXANDRA GREENBERG/MSO
EXCLUSIVELY AS ITUNES ‘VIDEO OF THE WEEK’ JANUARY 20
PHYSICAL ALBUM ‘THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE SEA’ DUE IN STORES MARCH 10
WITH DIGITAL RELEASE AND KCRW PODCAST SET FOR JANUARY 20
LIVE PERFORMANCE DATES SET FOR LOS ANGELES FEBRUARY 4 AND 11
Meanwhile, the album will see its official release March 10 through LAVIE’s own Quarter Past Wonderful label, which he started with KCRW DJ and tastemaker Chris Douridas. Says Douridas, a 27-year radio veteran, “I've never been so motivated to help an artist get his music out into the world until I met Oren. He is incredibly special. It's rare every song in an artist's catalogue moves me like Oren’s do."
American music fans may already be familiar with LAVIE’s work. “Her Morning Elegance” was featured in the national ad campaign for Chevy Malibu. He also wrote and performed the end credit song “A Dance ‘Round the Memory Tree” for the epic fantasy film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Most recently, OREN LAVIE was invited to be the first live performance guest on KCRW’s tastemaker program “Morning Becomes Eclectic” with its newly appointed host Jason Bentley. A video podcast of the session also launches January 20 through the podcast pages on iTunes or from KCRW.com
Leading up to the March release of The Opposite Side Of The Sea, LAVIE will appear for two special engagements at Largo in Los Angeles on February 4 and February 11. Tour details will be announced at a later date.
The story of THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE SEA in a nutshell told (and typed) by Oren (me):
Here goes. Several years back I moved to Berlin after years of living in London and NY working as a writer, theater director, musician. In Berlin I decided to record a small, quiet album of songs I had been collecting over the years. The main reason was to mark the closing of a period, and, in truth, I just didn’t want to forget the songs in time. The album was intended to be a simple, quick home recording but, as things do, ended up taking much longer to make than planned as in the process I had to build a small studio in my apartment.
In 2007, the album came out on a tiny European label. It received some lovely reviews and sold at least 20 copies in just under 6 months. I was content enough and was about to start a new theater project when, to my surprise, the album started to be played on KCRW in California by DJ Chris Douridas.
Chris and I soon became online friends and decided to try to get the album released in the US, if for no other reason than to make it available to listeners who expressed interest through KCRW. We decided to release it ourselves and aimed at not going bankrupt as the business plan.
Funnily, the next thing that happened was the track “Her Morning Elegance” got licensed to a Chevrolet commercial. I had never owned a car in my life, gave up TV in the 90’s and so with a song in my heart I continued to ride the bus. The ad was aired during the Grammies in 2008 and immediately drew in online listeners who wanted to buy the album.
With money from the ad I decided to move to LA and start a label with Chris. We named the label, A Quarter Past Wonderful, after the album’s closing track. We then assembled a group of people who loved the album and wanted to join in the release effort, embracing not going bankrupt as the official business plan.
Late in 2008, on a short vacation in Israel, I created a video concept for the album track “Her Morning Elegance,” scripted in the form of a short movie using the song as more of a background soundtrack. In Tel-Aviv, I contacted an animator and together we’ve collaborated on shooting the video.
The video animates the fantastic dream of a sleeping woman without ever leaving her bedroom, using her mattress as the canvas of the dream and her bed frame as the dolly of her journey. It was shot in two days using one still camera, one angle, two actors, and a budget of near zero. You can watch it here: http://www.amgstreams.com/orenlavie/videostreams/HerMorningElegance.asx
The Opposite Side Of The Sea complete track listing
1. Her Morning Elegance
2. The Man Who Isn't There
3.The Opposite Side of the Sea
4. Locked in a Room
5. Ruby Rises
6. A Dream Within a Dream
7. Trouble Don't Rhyme
8. A Short Goodbye
9. Don't Let Your Hair Grow Too Long
10. Blue Smile
11. Unhidden Track: A Quarter Past Wonderful
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For more information on OREN LAVIE, contact:
Alexandra Greenberg/MSO 818-380-0400 x223, agreenberg@msopr.com
http://
OREN LAVIE’S DEBUT VIDEO SINGLE “HER MORNING ELEGANCE” UNVEILED EXCLUSIVELY AS ITUNES ‘VIDEO OF THE WEEK’ JANUARY 20; PHYSICAL ALBUM ‘THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE SEA’ DUE IN STORES MARCH 10 WITH DIGITAL RELEASE AND KCRW PODCAST SET FOR JANUARY 20; LIVE PERFORMANCE DATES SET FOR LOS ANGELES FEBRUARY 4 AND 11
