You’ve probably made up a few band names in your life. There’s the inane conversation everybody’s had of animal band inventions (“You ever heard of Jaguars Go to Malls in Hartford? Yeah, they’re playing tomorrow.”). Then there’s the even more generally odious conversation involving convincing some poor kid that you like a pretend band with the most ridiculous name possible. Sean Ono Lennon is now in one of those bands: The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger. For real.
Abbreviated as GOASTT, the band consists of Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl, and their debut album Acoustic Sessions is coming out October 26. The album is technically a homemade deal, recorded and mixed in their living room — kind of like all those DIY bedroom groups sprouting up around Jersey and everywhere else. Except those groups don’t have John Lennon and Yoko Ono as parents. Kemp Muhl also has a sort of interesting back story, but one relatively more formulaic than Sean’s (military family, teenage model). Despite Sean’s less-than-humble beginnings, GOASTT is releasing the album on the duo’s own record label, Chimera Music (whose other artists in its short history include The Plastic Yoko Ono Band and Yoko Ono — maybe not so humble).
Listen to the very 60s single “Jardin du Luxembourg” here at the Chocolate Grinder, produced by Mark Ronson and released July 6. Otherwise, their songs are (according to the press release, which is just too good not to quote) “like Dali’s imaginary landscapes: lavender roads, oil slicks radiating rainbows, ballerinas tipping off tightropes, sweating snowmen, black and white films beamed from the future, Schroedinger’s cat meets Pavlov’s dog…” That gives you a good idea, right? (Oh wait, it’s just the tracklisting paraphrased.)
Tracklisting:
01. Lavender Road
02. Jardin du Luxembourg
03. Candy Necklace
04. Schroedinger’s Cat
05. Rainbows in Gasoline
06. Dark Matter, White Noise
07. Robot Boy
08. The World Was Made for Men
09. Song for James
Tourdates (all with Beth Orton):
08.09.10 - New York City, NY - Other Music
08.13.10 - Philadelphia, PA - World Café
08.16.10 - Northampton, MA - Iron Horse
08.17.10 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell’s
08.18.10 - Annapolis, MD - Rams Head
08.19.10 - New York City, NY - Joe’s Pub
08.21.10 - Woodstock, NY - Woodstock Animal Sanctuary
• The GOASTT: http://myspace.com/theghostofasabertoothedtiger
• Sean Ono Lennon: http://seanonolennon.com
• Chimera Music: http://chimeramusic.com