Fourteen years after his last album of original material, psych-rock legend and onetime 13th Floor Elevators frontman Roky Erickson is readying a new record called True Love Cast Out All Evil, out April 20 via Anti-. And he got some top-shelf help to bring his songs to life: fellow Austinites Okkervil River back Erickson on the whole LP, and Okkervil frontman Will Sheff produces. The team-up isn't a surprise, since Erickson played with Okkervil River at SXSW in 2008 and 2009.
The album features songs written by Erickson throughout his life, as well as "found-sound and archival recordings culled from Erickson's home videos and recordings made in the Rusk State Hospital for the Criminally Insane," according to a press release. (Erickson spent several years in the hospital in the early 70s, after a drug possession arrest.)
Talking about the record in a press release, Sheff said, "When we started out, I was given sixty unreleased songs to choose from. There were songs written during business setbacks including the Elevators' painful breakup, songs written by Roky while he was incarcerated at Rusk, and a great deal of songs that reminded me of the sense of optimism and romanticism that I think sustained Roky through his worst years and ultimately reunited him, a few years ago, with his son Jegar and his first wife Dana."
Erickson has been plagued by mental illness for decades-- his plight was chronicled in the excellent 2005 documentary You're Gonna Miss Me.
I had lunch with Okkervil River's drummer a couple of month ago,He told me it was a wired and interesting experience because Rocky can only do few hours of Studio each days.
ReplyDeleteIt's one of my 2010 'looking forward' albums
the Jaquelin-Anon
2JA/
ReplyDeleteAnd mine. They had my choice of album of the year the time before.
Regards/