Andrew Becker must have a favorite XTC/Smiths/House Of Love playlist he turns to while off on his sundry cinematic adventures around the globe. How else to explain the strummy, slightly angular Anglophilic vibe of the latest single from his ongoing solo project, Human Potential.
“The song came about fairly quickly and really seemed to write itself,” says the Los Angeles-based drummer-turned-award-winning documentary filmmaker. “One day, I was just sitting around playing through my old Silvertone guitar-case amp that has beautiful built-in tremolo. I began messing around with a chord sequence that seemed to demand that it be anchored by an iconic Hal Blaine, ‘Be My Baby’ drum beat.”
And that, in turn, seemed to beg for a female vocal. “A goddamned lovely female voice, which ended up being Amira Nader,” says Beck. “Then that seemed to demand that the choruses soar with a confectionary mix of voices. Which then seemed to demand that I call it ‘Practice Songs For The Unloved.’ Which evoked the feeling of a community of outcasts banding together to fuck around and play music together that most people wouldn’t like. Which seems kind of like what my friends and I have been doing for years. Which is, you know, fun.”
We’re proud to premiere “Practice Songs For The Unloved.” Look for Human Potential’s seventh LP, Eel Sparkles, via What Delicate on March 6.
—Hobart Rowland
