Los Angeles artist/musician Gretchen Lieberum (co-founder of Prince tribute band Princess with actress Maya Rudolph) has debuted via Rolling Stone the first video and song "Come Rain Or Come Shine" from her upcoming jazz standards album, This May Only Be A Dream, out May 7. Lieberum's good friend and bandmate Rudolph spoke with Rolling Stone about the album: "There is a warmth and a twisted beauty to this album that keeps me coming back for more. Sometimes visual, you can hear it explode with color and at times vibrate around Gretchen's gorgeous haunting vocals. THIS MAY ONLY BE A DREAM is both mighty and humble all at the same time... just beautiful."
An enduring and popular classic, "Come Rain Or Come Shine" is emotionally redefined by Lieberum, with a foundation of moody atmospheres and lush cinematics created by her producer and collaborator, BAFTA-winning composer and musician Keefus Ciancia. The video uses vintage stock footage that surrealistically conveys the longing, dreamlike elements of the music and was directed by Ciancia's daughter, Raven Violet. Lieberum's new album explores a collection of timeless jazz songs with an entirely fresh, modern, and experimental approach. Watch and share "Come Rain Or Come Shine" here.
Lieberum explains further about the song and video: "'Come Rain Or Come Shine' is a song about lasting love persevering through good times and bad, which is a message that certainly speaks to me, and I imagine many of us, these days. There are many versions of the song that I absolutely love - performed by Ray Charles and Billie Holiday for example. But the version that inspired our iteration of it is performed by Chet Baker. He does a really haunting version accompanied by acoustic guitar. I think you can hear our homage to his performance within ours. Instead of guitar, we used a Celeste. And then Keefus mashed that up with soaring orchestral samples. Raven Violet, Keefus's daughter, directed and edited the video. It's mostly comprised of public domain footage she found online. I think she has an incredible eye and the creativity of her dad."
An accomplished musician, Lieberum has released four albums of original music, wrote and performed the ending credits song featured in the beloved Independent Spirit Award-winning film Mean Creek, and formed the mega-popular Prince tribute band Princess with longtime college friend Maya Rudolph. For many years, she had been wanting to create an album of jazz and pop standards that were deconstructed and reimagined in a more modern context. Having worked with Ciancia previously on her album Siren Songs, she knew that she wanted to work with him on this record. "There was really no one else I wanted to do this project with besides Keefus" Lieberum states. "His impeccable taste and astounding creativity were exactly what I wanted for this album."
Lieberum and Ciancia recorded the album amidst both of their demanding schedules. Ciancia was busy scoring Killing Eve (winning a BAFTA in the process), and True Detective with T-Bone Burnett. Lieberum was playing sold-out shows with Princess, including a slot at the 2019 Bonnaroo Festival and gaining fame with their memorable appearances on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. They worked on the project virtually until finally meeting up to finish it in Los Angeles at the historic Electro Vox Studios, where they brought in a variety of seasoned and like-minded session musicians such as Jay Bellerose, David Ralicke, Gabe Noel, Woody Jackson, Peter Smith, Gabe Witcher, and Wendy Melvoin of Prince's band, The Revolution.
The lyrical stories within these classic songs are both hallowed and revered, written by some of the world's greatest songwriters. In recording This May Only Be A Dream, Lieberum and Ciancia endeavored to honor these past greats, but also strove to reinvent them without any strict adherence to previous arrangements or "standard" rules. The result is an album that is at once timely and timeless, appealing to longtime listeners while simultaneously opening a door for a whole new generation to discover great music anew.
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