new tour dates

April 11th, 2012 — 7:34am

We are adding new shows including a special invitation to the Renaissance Hotel in Amsterdam and Paris for DJ Sets and meet and greets. More details to be announced soon. Make sure you are on the mailing list to hear it all first.

April 18   Jazz Cafe London
April 20   Motel Mozaique Festival Rotterdam
April 21    Renaissance Hotel Amsterdam– FREE SHOW + DJ Set + Songwriter Meet & Greet
April 24   Club Silencio Paris
April 25   Renaissance Hotel Paris- FREE— DJ SET + Meet & Greet
April 26   Le Printemps De Bourges Festival
April 27   Nouveau Casino Paris
June 24   River’s Edge Festival St. Paul, MN

Aug East Coast shows TBA
Aug 29 New York State Fair
Sep 2 Bumpershoot Festival
Sep European shows TBA

Listen to the new AM & Shawn Lee album, the follow-up to Celestial Electric: http://bit.ly/2slam

 

 

indierockmag

April 4th, 2012 — 4:04pm

For the Shawn Lee feature, it will be necessary to wait for April 9th, the release date of the disc which already promises to fill our ears with 18 announced tracks, to transitions that seem more worked on the CD version. In the meantime, you have the opportunity to hear about the financial campaign launched via PledgeMusic by the Londonian in order to give body to his second collaborative LP with the Californian AM, a pair that has already achieved recent success with Celestial Electric.

In order to do this, a single address but multiple possibilities. There will be something for all budgets, from a simple preview download to financing entire tours by acquiring a lot of personal items, such as Shawn Lee’s famous tiger mask (yes yes) or a track composed for you and given the name you choose– Louna, one of the personalized songs issued during the campaign for the preceding opus, listen via the small integrated drive on the left of the page, will find itself on the new album.

Note that 10% of the money collected will go to Echo Park Animal Alliance, a community that helps abandoned pets and other endangered birds.

To end, the next French dates for AM & Shawn Lee, while waiting for their return to Europe expected in September if your investments permit them:

24 avril : Club Silencio (Paris)
26 avril : Printemps de Bourges
27 avril : Nouveau Casino (Paris)

summer infused emotional resonance

March 29th, 2012 — 5:00pm

“…bottled musical happiness and jive, a potent, magical elixir of funk, r&b and folk… Mixed into a life affirming and body moving beat happy slice of musical awesome…” –Subba-Cultcha 9 out of 10 stars

splicing genres

March 29th, 2012 — 4:38pm

“…one of the most diverse records you’ll hear this year, while still carrying many great melodic hooks and accessible tunes.”–Mr. Scott Music blog

new music club

March 28th, 2012 — 6:00am

Sometimes it takes a village to bring the music to everybody so we’re inviting you to get involved with our new album before it gets released. You’ll be the first to know the title of the new album, the track listings, hear it, and own it as mp3,instrumentals,  limited edition numbered CD, and Limited Edition numbered Vinyl  HERE.  We’ll also be posting our behind the scenes videos right here first– so we invite you to get involved in a unique experience and support the AM & Shawn Lee project.

AM & SHAWN LEE SPRING TOUR 2012

Get your tickets now

April 18  Jazz Cafe                              London, UK     
April 20  Motel Mozaique                    Rotterdam, NL    
April 24  Club Silencio                        Paris, FR
April 26  Le Printemps de Bourges    Bourges, FR    
April 27  Nouveau Casino                   Paris, FR         

 www.facebook.com/amandshawnlee

 

swagger, soul, and days of yore

March 15th, 2012 — 9:05am

“Celestial Electric exudes just the right amount of swagger and soul to have us reminisce the days of yore without wanting to fully commit to bellbottoms and feathered hair again.”–Samantha Gamino, The Owl Mag

encore un excellent album

March 15th, 2012 — 7:22am

« Le prolifique Shawn Lee sort encore un excellent album, cette fois avec le chanteur AM! » -Vibrations Magazine (France)

“The prolific Shawn Lee releases another excellent album, this time with singer AM!” -Vibrations Magazine (France)

virtuosité et fidèle

March 15th, 2012 — 7:13am

“…flirtant avec virtuosité avec le funk, la pop et la musique ‘world’, tout en restant fidèle à une esthétique classique.”—Nouveau Casino

English translation: “…flirting with virtuoso fun, pop, and world music, while remaining faithful to a classical aesthetic.”—Nouveau Casino

Indie-pop artist AM, based in Los Angeles but originally from New Orleans, and Londonian Shawn Lee (discovered in France thanks to the success of his track “Happiness,” after which he toured with Phoenix and participated in the Inrocks Festival) come together and present us with their first album, Celestial Electric, out January 24, 2012 on ESL/ADA Global/Naïve. AM already has many French admirers: the duo Air, who invited him to play his first tour in America then in France and Europe last year, but also Charlotte Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin who invited the Californian to join them on their American tour. It’s Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation who, listening to their collaboration, decided to sign them to his label ESL. A performance at the 2011 SXSW festival followed in March, as well as the release of a limited edition 12-inch for Music Store Day, which generated attention around their project. Everything began when AM heard a piece by Shawn Lee on the radio and decided to contact him. The two artists quickly became friends, sharing a pronounced love for vintage groove and soundtracks of the sixties and seventies. Shawn Lee then invited AM to play guitar with his Ping Pong Orchestra during some summer 2010 concerts. The two artists then decided to record together, each from his own side of the world: Lee sent AM drum and percussion beats recorded in his London studio, and AM added vocals, guitar, synth, and bass lines. The exchange continued on, each adding his contribution, until both parties were satisfied with the mix. The result of this transatlantic collaboration is a collection of 12 eclectic tracks, flirting with virtuoso funk, pop, and world music, while remaining faithful to a classical aesthetic.

capsized by tiger paw

March 15th, 2012 — 7:07am

“…nous fait chavirer avec un corps instrumental terriblement bien maîtrisé…voix chaude et atmosphérique nous glisse des images fabuleusement troublantes…”–Modesti, WTFRU  

English translation: “…tiger paw capsized us with a body of terribly well-mastered instruments…warm and atmospheric voice slips us fabulously disturbing images…”

Sometimes artists come together although they have different musical worlds at the start. This type of alliance can create a feeling of surprise that would be successively followed by a nameless relief. We can say fairly safely that AM & Shawn Lee have created this kind of sentimental upheaval within us. The musician AM, having already recorded with Air among others, has always known how to choose his partners. This explains why after hearing Shawn Lee’s Music and Light, AM couldn’t pass up this potential partnership, which promised wonders. AM pushed things a little and succeeded in contacting Shawn Lee via MySpace. The two partners quickly found common tastes: the psychedelic sounds of the 60s as well as Italian film soundtracks from the 70s and 80s. This is, we digress to say that it seems another well-known duo of our little French ears is as fond of this kind of background. A clue? Think about guys who have had legendary status for a while, falling into the abyss later with a more than mediocre album…

In short, fortunately this is not the case of these two fellows who sign an amazing album with ESL and Naïve Records. This achievement is a product of our digital generation and you will understand why. Like numerous artists at the moment, AM & Shawn Lee have rarely come together physically to create musically. One living in the United States and the other in England, it is thanks to the web that this album could be conceived. Shawn Lee created, on his side, a musical database by sending it to the devoted AM who hurried to add his voice and some other instruments. The first metaphor that comes to mind is of course that of musical ping-pong and judging by the level of our players this could only result in a very beautiful match. Let’s analyze, a little more prepared, the highlights of this match.

First is City Boy which opens hostilities. Funky, groovy, so many terms to define this first piece which leads us into the fabulous world of these majestic entities that are AM and Shawn Lee.

In stride, Lonely Life follows it and its admirably high-voltage synths accompanied by AM’s smooth voice. An alternative flight beginning above the Manhattan skyscrapers and finishing in a kind of Camden Rainbow Tunnel, fresh and sweet waves without end.

Then Dark Into Light, the album’s hit, appears suddenly in a frenetic manner. A piece that comes very close to the soundtrack of Drive. One rational justification of this comment is none other than the use of synth bass tones which reminds us of the work of Desire or that of the group Valerie and Friends.

Somebody Like You is the melodic blues transcending the effects of Reverb and Tremolo that descend from the car. We are dealing with a majestic plurality of genres from different eras, switching from 60s psyche-synth to 90s post-pop-rock guitar sounds with disconcerting simplicity.

We initially and logically raise our hat to Shawn Lee, whose tiger paw capsized us with a body of terribly well-mastered instruments, but equally to AM who with his warm and atmospheric voice slips us fabulously disturbing images during the 43 minutes. The masters often stay the same, and to evict these two, we wish lots of courage to the rising alternative indie-pop stars whose troubles are far from over.

mixture electro-soul

March 15th, 2012 — 6:56am

“mixture électro-soul”  –Musique Info

“electro-soul mix” –Musique Info

AM, Californian artist, comes together with his friend Shawn Lee, who’s living in England and who has also worked with the beginning parts of Phoenix or Air, in order to create an album titled Celestial Electric. Recorded from a distance, between London and Los Angeles, this opus will appear January 24th on ESL/ADA Global/Naive labels. The duo, whose single « Dark Into Light » is played over Radio Nova, will be invited by the station to play their electro-soul mix in the Nuits Zébrées on February 10th at the Machine du Moulin Rouge in Paris.