Former Cure keyboardist Roger O’Donnell’s sophomore solo full-length — Songs From The Silver Box — drops on January 20th; if you were a fan of 2006’s The Truth in Me, expect something slightly different this time around. “I already knew after my last record how I wanted the next one to sound,” he explains. “I saw The Truth In Me as very broad brush strokes with very bright primary and secondary colors, I wanted this one to be much more detailed and finely structured. I wanted a very high top and a very low bottom. I wanted to use a more controlled palette of sounds, far less experimental and I wanted to incorporate more rhythm.”
Get a sneak peek at the video he created for a track entitled “Tiny Pieces of You” after the jump, along with the details on what inspired the animation.
Roger O’Donnell – “Tiny Pieces Of You” from World's Fair on Vimeo.
“The idea really came from Erin Lang, who sang it. I had been trying to come up with a video that was more literal but was not getting anywhere. It’s drawn in pencil and I wanted to keep the animation simple as I have no patience so it felt right in black and white. I really like the drawn quality of it and it’s nice to have the reverse to give it some contrast.
“Like most things I guess the one initial idea led to the whole story, the Robin sitting on the tree, his/her friend and the changing of seasons. The leaves fall off symbolizing Autumn, the leaves, tiny pieces of you and it makes the Robin sad. Same kind of thing with the Owl, the snow is the tiny pieces and the sadness comes when the moon goes into eclipse leaving the Owl alone and in the dark. The second half of the song is the end of the winter coming into spring and the Swallows which represent spring to us at our home in England return and the leaves come back. Finally we have a semi-tame Crow that we feed in our garden, if we don’t feed him he comes and looks in the window and cries. I realised that if I left him out of the video I would be in trouble, haha, so he just kind of flies off into the distance with the stars.
“The song was written during a time when Erin and I were apart for long periods and it was inspired by what you go away with from a person. Things they say come into your mind, you find little things they left with you. It’s a very emotional song for both of us.”