Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine have released two new tracks, ‘Back To Oz’ and ‘Fictional California’.
The tracks will appear on the pair’s collaborative album ‘A Beginner’s Mind’, which is due to arrive on September 24 via Asthmatic Kitty Records.
As previously announced, each track on the forthcoming collection was inspired by a separate film that the labelmates watched together: ‘The results are less a ‘cinematic exegesis’ and more a ‘rambling philosophical inquiry’ that allows the songs to free-associate at will,” they said in press material.
Following on from ‘Reach Out’ and ‘Olympus’, the record has been further previewed today (August 10) with ‘Back To Oz’ and ‘Fictional California’, which were inspired by 1985’s Return To Oz and 2004’s Bring It On Again respectively.
Angelo explained that the first track was “written mostly at home in California”, adding: “We finished its lyrics after watching Return To Oz.
“The words reference an erosion of a central character’s internal reality. A loss of innocence is the impetus for a journey to find inner truth. In the film, Dorothy returns to the world of Oz to find its landscape in ruins and its citizens frozen in stone. Only she can find the ruby slippers and return peace to Oz. Only we can save ourselves, but we first have to remember who we truly are.”
Stevens added: “The song has a fun guitar groove, so we gave it some bass and drums, and Angelo even recorded his first electric guitar solo. It’s a sad song – being mostly about disillusionment – but it has a great party vibe too.
“We love the dreamlike quality of ‘Back To Oz’ and how the chorus transports the listener to another world,” says video director Horan. “We wanted to evoke those same feelings through the visuals.”
‘Back To Oz’ arrives with a surreal animated official video, which was directed by Alex Horan.
You can see the full tracklist for Stevens and De Augustine’s collaborative album ‘A Beginner’s Mind’ below. Pre-order the record here.
01. ‘Reach Out’
02. ‘Lady Macbeth In Chains’
03. ‘Back To Oz’
04. ‘The Pillar Of Souls’
05. ‘You Give Death A Bad Name’
06. ‘Beginner’s Mind’
07. ‘Olympus’
08. ‘Murder And Crime’
09. ‘(This Is) The Thing’
10. ‘It’s Your Own Body And Mind’
11. ‘Lost In The World’
12. ‘Fictional California’
13. ‘Cimmerian Shade’
14. ‘Lacrimae’
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