La Vita Nuova Maria McKee SKU: AFAR001LP Barcode: 809236160119 21.00 £21.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Afar Records Released Date: 19th June 2020 Buying Format: 2LP Out of stock Back Order Add to your Wishlist Description Product Info Ardent, anglophilic, anachronistic, luddite/maximalist and baroque, ‘La Vita Nuova’ was written as an elegy to desire. Upon its completion it became a conjuring. Candid and passionate, Maria McKee has quite simply, had a beatific awakening and in a crescendo of prose, her new album ‘La Vita Nuova’ unlocks this story, sketching out a momentous and transformative time in her life that started decades ago when she sang in her living room by the fire with her older brother, the late, great musical innovator Bryan MacLean, co-founder, (along with Arthur Lee), of the seminal LA band LOVE. Along the way she retooled punk and country as the lead singer of pioneering Americana band Lone Justice, released a string of evocative and eclectic solo records, wrote chart-topping hits and inspired the devotion of a loyal cultish fan base before seemingly disappearing… It’s been thirteen years since her last studio album ‘Late December’ which was released in 2007. ‘La Vita Nuova’ is a homage to Dante’s opus on unrequited love. Though the unconscious impetus for making this album was to process the shock of one of McKee’s most prodigious personal challenges thus far, the dissolution and reinvention of her marriage, the songs are progressive and lyrically dense. The production is orchestral and operatic and takes it cues from McKee’s lexicon of icons – John Cale, Scott Walker and David Bowie. And so, it’s a conversation that demands a level of deep concentration. One may need to listen more than once to connect with the confessional narrative that is held in subtext and to understand that within the lines of prose the “muse”, or “Beatrice” of the album is also a heart-breaking phantom of McKee’s younger, idealistic self. And a metaphor for youth in general. As reflected in the haunting, cascading melodic strains of the Joni Mitchell hinted “I Should Have Looked Away” and the poignant, nostalgic wistfulness of lead track “Effigy of Salt”. McKee has also since moved to London. The album seems to herald this move as there are nods to Sandy Denny, Kate Bush and English composers and poets McKee admires such as Ralph Vaughn Williams, Keats and Swinburne whose work she had immersed herself in while writing the album. McKee’s professed Spiritual Father, William Blake is name-checked on the track ‘Right Down To The Heart of London’, a love letter to the psychogeography of McKee’s expatriate home. ‘Ceann Bró’ was inspired by the astral projected liaisons between William Butler Yeats and Maud Gonne on the westernmost point of Ireland as McKee is an initiate of an occult lodge in the tradition of Yeats’ and Gonne’s The Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn. The lyrics in ‘Page Of Cups’ flirt with the “unexpected, surprising muse” figure in the minor Tarot arcana. The track recalls ‘Forever Changes’-era Love as does ‘I Just Want To Know That You’re Alright’. Both are heavily influenced by brother Bryan MacLean. It would be easy to believe that ‘La Vita Nuova’ indeed could have been “channelled” as McKee eludes to the songs descending “like manna from the throne” in the lyrics for ‘Courage’. The nineteen-piece orchestral arrangements were composed and arranged by McKee who has had no formal classical training and doesn’t read a note of music. But really that is the nature of creative catharsis which generally operates with a will of its own. Artist Maria McKee Genre Rock And Pop Label Afar Records Buying Options 2LP Format 2LP Condition New Country UK Track Listings Side A: A1 Effigy Of Salt A2 Page Of Cups A3 Let Me Forget A4 I Should Have Looked Away Side B: B1 Right Down To The Heart Of London B2 La Vita Nuova B3 Little Beast Side C: C1 Courage C2 Ceann Bró C3 The Last Boy Side D: D1 I Never Asked D2 I Just Want To Know That You're Alright D3 Weatherspace D4 However Worn Share this On Facebook On Twitter Via Email More from Maria McKee and more from Rock And Pop View Product Quick View Maria McKee Late December/ Live Acoustic – RSD 2023 Rock And Pop | Afar Records | 1LP Released 22nd April 2023 £27.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Maria McKee Late December/ Live Acoustic – RSD 2023 £27.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Afar Records SKU: AFAR006LP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 22nd April 2023 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Liza Anne Fine But Dying Rock And Pop | Arts & Crafts | 1LP Released 9th March 2018 £22.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Liza Anne Fine But Dying £22.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Arts & Crafts SKU: AC148LP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 9th March 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nearly New View Product Quick View Bernie Leadon/Michael Georgiades Natural Progressions (cut out) Rock And Pop | Asylum | 1LP Released 5th December 2013 £8.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Bernie Leadon/Michael Georgiades Natural Progressions (cut out) £8.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Asylum SKU: NN58279 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 5th December 2013 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View George Thorogood & The Destroyers 2120 South Michigan Ave Blues | Capitol | 2LP Released 25th July 2011 £26.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders George Thorogood & The Destroyers 2120 South Michigan Ave £26.00 Genre: Blues Label: Capitol SKU: CAP29338 Formats: 2LP Released Date: 25th July 2011 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Cure, The Seventeen Seconds Rock And Pop | Music On Vinyl | 180g, 1LP Released 31st October 2011 £23.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Cure, The Seventeen Seconds £23.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Music On Vinyl SKU: MOVLP394 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 31st October 2011 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Various Artists New Wave Of The 80’s Collected Rock And Pop | Music On Vinyl | 180g, 2LP Released 15th September 2023 £34.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Various Artists New Wave Of The 80’s Collected £34.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Music On Vinyl SKU: MOVLP3459C Formats: 180g, 2LP Released Date: 15th September 2023 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Cliff Richard and The Shadows The Best Of The Rock ‘N’ Roll Pioneers Rock And Pop | Warner Music | 2LP Released 29th November 2019 £22.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Cliff Richard and The Shadows The Best Of The Rock ‘N’ Roll Pioneers £22.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Warner Music SKU: 0190295367008 Formats: 2LP Released Date: 29th November 2019 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Sharon Van Etten We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong (Deluxe Edition) Rock And Pop | Jagjaguwar | 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 11th November 2022 £35.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Sharon Van Etten We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong (Deluxe Edition) £35.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Jagjaguwar SKU: JAG395DLX Formats: 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 11th November 2022 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Lianne La Havas Lianne La Havas Rock And Pop | Warner Records | 1LP Released 17th July 2020 £19.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Lianne La Havas Lianne La Havas £19.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Warner Records Released Date: 17th July 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Woods Sun & Shade Folk | Woodsist | 1LP Released 9th June 2011 £16.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Woods Sun & Shade £16.00 Genre: Folk Label: Woodsist SKU: WOODSIST053 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 9th June 2011 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Brian Eno Discreet Music Rock And Pop | UMC/Virgin | 180g, 1LP, Includes Download Code Released 14th November 2018 £18.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Brian Eno Discreet Music £18.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: UMC/Virgin SKU: ENOLP5 Formats: 180g, 1LP, Includes Download Code Released Date: 14th November 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders See more in Rock And Pop Start again
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