After the lead-up towards this event, teasing one single at a time, finally the indie pop duo I Am a Rocketship has released their much-anticipated ‘La Cruella’ album, Their sixth major release, here we have ten tracks on offer that explore familiar indie pop and rock territory at the same time as experimenting with new sounds – these compositions are about uncertainty, fear and dreams. Rooted in solid melodies, here the duo mixes warm vocals, loud guitars, and cool electronic beats to explore that place where rock and trip-hop never quite met.
I Am a Rocketship is made up of multi-instrumentalist Eric Weissinger and Swedish artist L E Kippner. Before meeting, Weissinger was a bassist and guitarist backing up various artists and opening for the likes of The Wedding Present, James and The Black Crowes. Upon meeting Kippner (who is a cellist, scientist, radio DJ and vocalist for Swedish synth-pop duo Neobox), the two formed Hitchcock Blondes in Ohio and then I Am a Rocketship upon relocating to Atlanta.
“These songs are about uncertainty, fear and dreams. These may be the last songs we make that could be identified as “rock”, as we’ve increasingly fallen in love with longer songs that don’t really follow any real blueprint,” says L E Kippner.
“We tried a different way of writing songs for this album, and it turned out that every song had a story. Since our musical style has changed a bit with this album, the way that the lyrics tell those stories has changed as well. These songs don’t spell out what is happening but are about feelings. We hope people will find something to recognize, maybe feel that one of the song speaks to them.”
Eric Weissinger adds, “We just let go on this album, and often said “well, this is going to kill any reputation we had”. It’s very pure, for want of a better term. We just wrote what we felt.”
Earlier, the duo released ‘Do You Feel Good’ featuring Kellii Scott (best known as drummer for the legendary band Failure and for his work with Veruca Salt, Dr. Dre, Pink, Enemy and Christina Aguilera), and ‘Gravity’, a breezy pop number that Weissinger says is “an end-of-summer song. Kind of groovy but a little melancholy”, offering a more bare-bones sound than the band’s usual atmospheric-heavy style.
I Am a Rocketship’s 2016 debut album ‘Mission Control’ was followed by the ‘Mind Grafitti’ (2019) and ‘Ghost Stories’ (2020) albums, 2020’s ‘oRAnGE’ EP and their latest long-player ‘Lies and Legends’ (2021).
On August 4, the ‘La Cruella’ album will be available across all fine music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.
CREDITS
Written and performed by Eric Weissinger and L E Kippner
Drums by Kellii Scott on ‘Do You Feel Good’
© 2023 My Long Wknd, LLC
except ‘Heaven Tonight’ written by Rick Nielsen & Tom Petersson © Adult Music, Screen Gems-EMI Music Inc.
Recorded at The Barry Patch by Eric Weissinger
Video by Eric Weissinger
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