On paper, the Disassociation is a band in the most absurd sense, its membership seemingly cobbled together by some rogue purveyor of intelligent design. As it stands now, the lineup includes Falcon Eddy’s Amy Maloof, surrealist author and occasional lyricist Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn, The Fortress Of Solitude), radio host Sam Sousa and all five members of SoCal underground fixture Refrigerator. As you’d expect, songs came from all directions when they gathered over a long weekend to record—and Losing Is A Luxury (Shrimper) is the result. Some tracks feature a single band member; others have as many as 10 participants.
Here’s more from various Disassociations on the album and the new single “Take It All Away.” Think of it as a Swiss-cheese aural history (with tons of holes).
Maloof: “I’ve known most of these cats since the early ’90s. A few years ago, Jonathan Lethem asked me to sing the lyrics he wrote for an unofficial theme song for his and Sam Sousa’s radio show, Radio Free Aftermath, on KSPC.”
Lethem: “The 2020 lockdown turned us all into involuntary novelists. During that diminished time, I started writing lyrics for Amy to sing—and somehow this gesture grew like a katamari ball of local Inland Empire musical legends and freaks into a virtual band, all of them making demos of songs in their various squirrel holes. Then, when it was safe to come out—voila—my wish had come true.”
Refrigerator’s Mark Givens: “For such a tightly packed submarine of artists—there were 10 of us crammed into a small recording space at one point—the looseness and clarity still shine through.”
Refrigerator’s Allen Callaci: “We went into the mine blind for a weekend not knowing what we’d come out with, and we struck some joyous gold.”
On “Take It All Away”:
Refrigerator’s Dennis Callaci: “I shot the video in a graveyard and other wild abandons about 30 miles north of Glasgow. Sam and Amy, who sing the song, sent along footage they shot.”
Givens: “The song was written in one room by half the members. The other half recorded in the other room. We all came together to finish off the song. That back-and-forth added an exciting sense of discovery to each step.”
We’re proud to premiere the Disassociation’s “Take It All Away” video. Losing Is A Luxury is out March 21.
—Hobart Rowland
