Producer and composer John Mark Lapham , who was a member of mid-'00s band The Earlies, now records eerie, atmospheric music as Old Fire and has announced new album, Voids, which will be out November 4 via Western Vinyl. The album features lead vocal turns from Bill Callahan, Julian Holter, Loma's Emily Cross and Adam Torres, as well as instrumental contributions from Thomas Bartlett (Doveman), Thor Harris, Joseph Shabason (Destroyer, Fresh Pepper), Semay Wu, and more. .
“I was feeling the brunt of a relationship ending, and the emptiness it left behind,” says Lapham of the origins of this album. “Over the course of compiling the album, I lost both my parents, and the pandemic started. These recordings were born out of that loss, and that isolation. The title Voids was a natural fit.”
The first single from the album is a gorgeous, contemplative cover of John Martyn's "Dont You Go" featuring Callahan on vocals. “I originally created some ideas for this cover with a composer friend of mine and it laid around without a vocalist for years," Lapham says. "The song really resonated with me so I took my ideas for it and asked Thomas Bartlett to be involved, who in turn recorded a beautiful piano part for it. Bill was the last piece of the puzzle. I set out to find a vocalist who was a little older, someone who could add to the southern gothic feel of the album. I was introduced to him by our mutual friend, Thor Harris, and it evolved from there."
You can watch the video for "Don't You Go" which Lapham wrote and directed. "Lyrically the themes of loss and mourning of this track fit well into the overall narrative of the album. With the video, I wanted to express those concepts, and portray them as the father being buried alive by his memories and his hurt. As with other elements of Old Fire, the setting had to be West Texas, as there is so much desolation and decay in this area.”
Watch that, and check out the album's cover art and tracklist below.
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Voids: 1. All Gone prelude 2. Blue Star (ft. Emily Cross) 3. When I Was In My Prime (ft. Bill Callahan) 4. Corpus (ft. Bill Callahan) 5. Love is Only Dreaming 6. Dreamless (ft. Adam Torres) 7. Don’t You Go (ft. Bill Callahan) 8. Window Without a World (ft. Julia Holter) 9. Void I: Uninvited 10. Void II: Memory 11. Void III: Father as a Child 12. Void IV: Circles
