A spray-painted love letter to the big city’s strivers and survivors, The New York Lovebirds’ long-awaited independent debut, New York Is Forever, packs a wallop. Opening track and lead single “The Underground Is Underground” journeys through the daily grind of a desperate soul’s feverish dreams, somewhere between transcendence and bankruptcy court. The up-tempo rock-soul tune “Live in Your World” sounds like Robert Palmer meets Chaka Khan. The spooky “What Good Are Laws?” reads as if it were ripped from the latest edition of The New York Post, and the Sixties sock-hop strut of “Run, Little Sheba” keeps things rocking. While “Killing the Game” is a searing manifesto, “New York Is Forever” is a torch song sung by a barfly balladeer. Ending up with the quasi-reggae “Standing in the Flood” and “We’ve Got This Thing” - a jazzy mash note to a lover, a soul mate, a city - this record brings the realness in only 23 minutes. A powerful debut by a great unknown, New York Is Forever is sure to find its audience among rock-and-soul music lovers everywhere.
Through it all, Williamsburg pioneer and band-leader David “The Dean Martin of Punk” Delp delivers his wry, street-wise poetry in a sometimes rough, sometimes smooth, but always passionate voice as distinctive as any of New York City’s finest, past or present. New York Is Forever boasts a versatile, seasoned band: Gina Fletcher (vocals), Evan Mazunik (keys), Josh Dougherty (guitar), Mark Kirby (percussion), Rich Cresenti (drums), and Bob Dylan alums Rob Stoner (bass) and Tony Garnier (double bass). AJ Tissian’s no-tricks production is clean, crisp and clear.
credits
released July 20, 2016
Vocals - David Delp, Gina Fletcher
Keys - Evan Mazunik
Guitar - Josh Dougherty
Bass - Rob Stoner
Double Bass - Tony Garnier
Drums - Rich Cresenti
Additional Players:
Percussion - Mark Kirby
Guitar - Danny Meridith
All songs by David Delp except for Live in Your World (Delp, Meredith) and Killing the Game (Delp, Dougherty).
Produced by David Delp and A.J. Tissian
Recorded, mixed and mastered by A.J. Tissian for Wave Lab Recordings.
Assistant Engineers: Chris Allgood, Michael Butler, Andrew Guinn and Jackie Smiley.
Album design by Esther Yang for Big Yellow Taxi, Manhattan.
Photograph by Tom Sawyer.
Special thanks to John and Joyce, Felix Cardofia, May Liu and Aiko Miwa. Dedicated to Christian Fahlen.
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