Los Angeles – Saturday Night is a short film, that consists of four inter-connected music videos, based on the songs on Curse Of Lono‘s debut EP. The film, which was directed by Alex Walker, stars Grant Masters, Marta Hermida, Grahame Fox and Martin Edwards.
In 2015, Curse Of Lono was formed, in London, by singer-songwriter Felix Bechtolsheimer, following the breakup of British roots pioneers Hey Negrita.
“We released four records with Hey Negrita, toured all over the world, played at more festivals than I can remember and had a great time doing it but there was a growing sense that it was time for something new. Then I bumped into my old friend Oli Bayston from the band Boxed In, who was producing albums for Domino and Nettwerk as well as working on a solo record. He was involved in a completely different scene, obsessed with Krautrock and Radiohead, which really opened my eyes to new ways of writing and recording.”
The collection of songs that emerged formed a stunningly cinematic record, combining spaced out, harmony-laden indie-roots with driving, gothic alt-rock.
In the summer of 2015, Curse Of Lono added ex-Hey Negrita drummer Neil Findlay, lead guitarist Joe Hazell, bassist Charis Anderson, and keyboardist Dani Ruiz Hernandez to the lineup.
This October, Curse Of Lono released its debut EP, consisting of four songs, forming the soundtrack for a short film of inter-connected videos directed by Alex Walker and shot by Bart Sienkiewicz. The film, which stars Grant Masters and Marta Hermida, was released alongside the EP and was shown at the EP launch show covered by BestNewBands.
“We wanted to do something visual to capture the mood of the record,” explains Felix. “Alex is a great filmmaker and an old friend. He’s been talking about the cinematic quality of the recordings for a while and how he wanted to use some of them as a soundtrack for a bigger visual experience. The EP seemed the perfect place to start.”
To expand on the visual theme, Curse Of Lono spent a day filming at its London studio with live music video producers ONT’ SOFA, recording ten live performances which are being released monthly on YouTube as “The Doghouse Sessions.”
“The videos are very intimate. We wanted to invite people into our world, to watch us play our songs in the room where we get together every week and where many of them were conceived, with no overdubs or studio trickery.”
Curse Of Lono’s 4-track debut EP was released on 12” vinyl and can be digitally downloaded via Submarine Cat Records. The full album will follow early next year.
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Photo by Hana Knizova.
