EL VY, the collaboration between The National’s Matt Berninger and Menomena’s Brent Knopf, have released “Paul is Alive” a single off their upcoming album, Return to the Moon.
“Paul is Alive” is a single that infuses melodic guitars with effusive keys against Berninger eerily uttering, “Paul is alive,” which is possibly a reference to the Paul is Dead theory regarding former Beatle Paul McCartney, as aslo indicated by the lyrics, ‘Beatlemania made my mother think the way she does.’ The song also references rock bands such as the Smiths and the Cramps.
“I think ‘Paul Is Alive’ is about finally finding the water that you can breathe in, finding a place or a person that makes you feel like you,” said Berninger on the song. “It’s very much my story of what Cincinnati was like, growing up and falling in love with music, discovering these little places where like-minded people could find each other.”
EL VY released a video for their single “I’m The Man To Be” just last month. The band began as an idea for the duo years ago, but only recently had they began the recording process. A press release from the band states:
The album is a project Berninger and Knopf have been thinking about for years. Their friendship spans nearly a decade, starting back when the National and Menomena played small half-empty clubs along America’s west coast. Feeling an immediate musical kinship, the pair kept in touch, Brent sending Matt occasional rough sketches of music and Matt responding with melodies and lyrics. Finally, in the winter and spring of 2014-15, they actually got together to make an album.
EL VY’s Return to the Moon is set to be released October 30th via 4AD.
Listen to “Paul is Alive” below.
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