January 31st, 2012 — 11:51pm
“Indie iconoclasts join forces. Results heavenly”- 4 Stars album review Q Magazine
Thank you Paul Moody
AM & Shawn Lee London and Paris Promo tour 2012
Feb 06 Rough Trade East Instore 6:45pm London, England
Feb 08 Radio acoustic performance “Ouvert La Nuit” 9pm Paris, France
Feb 09 Gilbert Instore, 6pm Paris, France
Feb 10 Les Nuits Zébrées de Radio Nova @ La Machine du Moulin Rouge Paris, France
March SXSW 2012
EUROPEAN SPRING TOUR TBA
April 27 Nouveau Casino Paris, France (Tix go on sale Feb. 7)
January 31st, 2012 — 2:43pm
“sonic innovation with a plethora of funky grooves and drum lines- no loops in earshot” -Clash Magazine
Did we mention our tour schedule?
AM & Shawn Lee London and Paris Promo tour 2012
Feb 06 Rough Trade East Instore 6:45pm London, England
Feb 08 Radio acoustic performance “Ouvert La Nuit” 9pm Paris, France
Feb 09 Gilbert Instore, 6pm Paris, France
Feb 10 Les Nuits Zébrées de Radio Nova @ La Machine du Moulin Rouge Paris, France
March SXSW 2012
April 26 Le Printemps De Bourges Bourges, France
April 27 Nouveau Casino Paris, France
Somebody Like You Remix EP
Available on iTunes February 6, 2012
January 26th, 2012 — 9:24am
My song Running Away from the album Troubled Times was featured on Dog The Bounty Hunter last night.
Listen here
Heading to London and Paris next week. Super excited about it.
AM & Shawn Lee London and Paris Promo Tour 2012
Feb 06 Rough Trade East Instore 6:45pm London, England
Feb 08 Radio acoustic performance “Ouvert La Nuit” 9pm Paris, France
Feb 09 Gilbert Instore, 6pm Paris, France
Feb 10 Les Nuits Zébrées de Radio Nova @ La Machine du Moulin Rouge Paris, France
March SXSW 2012
January 25th, 2012 — 8:36am
“…intricate and groove-filled dreamscapes that are every bit organic and every bit mad genius…”
- Daytrotter
AM & Shawn Lee’s live Daytrotter session available for free HERE.
Hearing their album, “Celestial Electric,” is like starting out at the snowstorm and trying to track the paths of a dozen flakes all at once, realizing that your eyes are splitting into dozens of directions, but it feels good to be doing it. It’s getting out into the weather, letting it envelope us and feeling what cold, but warmed up cheeks feel like, how they’re working extra hard and are mostly getting the job done, not letting any of the cold sink in too much. AM and Lee have perfected a collaborative musical relationship that brings about these intricate and groove-filled dreamscapes that are every bit organic and every bit mad genius, these guys knowing exactly which buttons to press on everyone to get them to respond in kind to a piece of music. It’s a swarm of bees and bullets, hot wires, hot feet, soft features, bare legs, tops down, expensive drinks, sun burns, wind burn and a gratifying sense that it’s all coming together into a chuggable brew. We keep our lips to it and sip it instead, savoring the everything qualities of it.
January 24th, 2012 — 7:08pm
“Moins Kitsch qu’Empire Of The Sun, plus black que Phoenix: du soleil, de l’amour et du sexe en barre”
- Eleonore Colin, Tsugi Magazine France Celestial Electric Album Review January 2012
English Translation: “Less kitschy than Empire of the Sun, blacker than Phoenix: some sun, some love, and a lot of sex.” Tsugi Magazine
Album Review:
It’s winter, people are quiet and have hearts that are a little chilled. A magic trick! In 44 minutes of pure electro-soul coolness, AM & Shawn Lee invert the seasons, time, and space and drop us into some part of California during the ‘60s and ‘70s. In 2010, AM (American indie-pop songwriter who toured with Air) heard a song by Shawn Lee (Londonian producer known for his collaborations with Jeff Buckley or Money Mark) on the radio and contacted him right away via Myspace. A cyber-friendship formed around a common love for old-school synths, funk, soul, and styles of Schifrin or Morricone. Two meetings later, Lee draws his old 4-track and records a string of complex rhythms. From the other side of the Atlantic, AM layers his coarse angelic voice, guitar, synth, ukulele, percussion, glockenspiel, vibes, Moog Taurus pedals…on top of the scorching hot bass and starry vocals. Celestial Electric collects sprinkles of psychedelic-soul-pop without nostalgia. Less kitschy than Empire of the Sun, blacker than Phoenix: some sun, some love, and a lot of sex.
January 19th, 2012 — 11:43pm
Download a free remix of Somebody Like You by Fort Knox Five for a limited time.
January 19th, 2012 — 6:12pm
AM & Shawn Lee touring updates:
Feb 06 Rough Trade East Instore 6:45pm London, England
Feb 08 Radio acoustic performance “Ouvert La Nuit” 9pm Paris, France
Feb 09 Gilbert Instore, 6pm Paris, France
Feb 10 Les Nuits Zébrées de Radio Nova @ La Machine du Moulin Rouge Paris, France
March at SXSW 2012
January 11th, 2012 — 1:04pm
« Un flashback gagnant, aussi plaisant qu’irrésistible » -Abus Dangereux
English translation: “a winning flashback, as pleasant as irresistible”
The year started off in fanfare with the album from a supernatural meeting between AM, a prestigious indie-pop figure from Los Angeles and Shawn Lee, who was living in London and had been noticed ten years before with the album “Monkey Boy” and who we hadn’t heard from since. The two musicians, who have a taste for old school pop—from Brian Wilson to Carlos Jobim, from the British Invasion to Gainsbourg—but also from original bands, better than the films they dress—Barry/Morricone—meet and decide to work together from a distance, one sending drum loops or bass lines to the other, receiving vocals and guitar parts in exchange. This disc is the happy result. Because “Celestial Electric” is a true success, a winning flashback, as pleasant as irresistible, hardly ever bordering bad taste—the revival of the guilty pleasure “Jackie Blue,” a 1975 soft-rock hit, which had been shelved with the arrival of punk, and some moments of grace and ingenuity—close to the whole album. “Different Forces” and “Somebody Like You” should melt hearts and carry the piece. It is all one can wish for an album that cleverly mixes modernity and nostalgia.
Are you coming to see AM & Shawn Lee in Paris?
Feb 08 acoustic performance “Ouvert La Nuit” Paris, France 9pm
Feb 09 Gilbert Instore Paris, France 6pm
Feb 10 Les Nuits Zébrées de Radio Nova @ La Machine du Moulin Rouge Paris, France 10pm
January 10th, 2012 — 12:49pm
AM & Shawn Lee’s “Dark Into Light”– loved by Nylon Magazine fans and a top download on iTunes. Download it for free HERE:
January 4th, 2012 — 9:32am
“An excellent and very addictive first record of timeless pop, which blends with perfection funk, groove and jazz influences thanks to, notably, a greatly crafted production”
-Magic 5 out of 6 stars
First, AM, is a pop songwriter living in Los Angeles. Second, Shawn Lee, is a licensed doctor of vintage sound living in London. At first look, and by listening to their respective works, nothing predestined the meeting of these two musicians and even less the beautiful fusion of their worlds. The whole surpasses the sum of these parts to build an excellent and addictive first album of timeless-pop where funk, groove, jazz and psychedelic influences get combined perfectly thanks, in particular, to great production technique. Even without similar experiences, it would seem that the common passion for vintage music and more than twenty-year-old French and Italian movie soundtracks, added to the light touch of the Finders Keepers label has sealed their pact. Honors to MySpace and our digital era, without which Celestial Electric would never have been possible. AM, very inspired by Shawn Lee’s work, contacts him on MySpace, and the two composers don’t take long to find many similarities. One meeting later, the decision to work together is made. The collaboration will continue as it began, through the strong Internet canals, in a fruitful game of digital file exchanges. Shawn Lee designs the rhythmic foundations of a track, AM adds lyrics and melodic details, and Lee takes it back to embellish and to finish it. Next piece. Kind of an imposed musical ping-pong game, where the frustration of waiting increases the excitement and motivates creativity. Enjoy, on repeat, the fruit of this process, perfectly ripe and tangy enough that it would be necessary to tell others to try it. No track bores or leaves umoved. Each track grabs the body and exhilarates the mind. These multicolored and sparkling notes soar in all of the senses, constantly played up by warm breaks. Never under a bad shadow, never sirupy. Happiness with no wrong note. Romantism without marshmallows. Comedy without heaviness. A road trip full of hallucinations, with no overdose. The perfect balance.
