A juicy ’60s garage-pop throwback with pronounced post-punk DNA, “New Year’s Dissolution” is the latest result of S. LaBate’s fruitful collaboration with producer/engineer Evan Mui (Surfer Blood, Jolie Holland, David Pajo).
“At the heart of my work with Evan is our friendship,” says the Los Angeles-based jack-of-all-trades. “Before we played music together, we were friends first—and that brings a really cool and genuine dynamic to the recording process.”
“New Year’s Dissolution” was assembled at Mui’s Weathervane Sound in Pasadena. LaBate handled vocals and guitars and also threw in some castanets as a nod to his favorite song, the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby.” (LaBate lives right down the street from the former site of Gold Star Studios, home to Phil Spector’s “wall of sound.”) Aside from playing bass, drums, guitar and EBow, Mui supplied the culinary inspiration.
“Evan’s dad is Cantonese—he grew up with that style of cooking, so he tips me off about all the best Chinese restaurants on the east side of L.A,” says LaBate, who’s also a respected music journalist and publicist. “Me, Evan and his wife, Kat, are always driving out to the San Gabriel Valley to search for amazing food—that, or hiking down to Eaton Canyon Falls in Pasadena, or going to see the Barbie movie or a Guided By Voices show. When we get together, it’s always a fun hang.”
We’re proud to premiere S. LaBate’s “New Year’s Dissolution.”
—Hobart Rowland
