Kevin Morby – “Rock Bottom” [Video]

Here is the new single/video for “Rock Bottom” from Kevin Morby, the second single from This Is A Photograph, out May 13th on Dead Oceans.

Morby wrote much of this album in Memphis, moving into the Peabody Hotel and spending his days paying tribute and genuflecting to the dreamers he admired. The apparitions that filled Morby’s days haunt the record; apparent in the twisted rock and roll rave-up of “Rock Bottom” (“All of my life, oh to be anything but in the rock bottom”). The track features Sam Cohen on bass (who also produced the record), backing vocals by Cassandra Jenkins, and laugh tracks from Tim Heidecker and Alia Shawkat. The accompanying video, directed by frequent Kansas City-based collaborator Johnny Eastlund, is charming with a comedic edge. It features Morby, Heidceker, and artist Ariel Kellogg.

“I’d often pass a mural of the late James Lee Lindsey Jr. on Main Street (in Memphis) which eventually lead me down a rabbit hole to revisiting his body of work including watching the 2009 documentary filmed during his last days, Better Than Something. I was taken by how similar his story was to that of many other American icons that were ahead of their time and too-quickly rose from the bottom to the top, inevitably burning out. I read that his stage name, Jay Reatard, was worn as a badge of honor after years of being picked on in grade school – which may or may not be why on the cover of his seminal album Blood Visions he’s covered in blood as a nod to Sissy Spacek’s character in Carrie. Because of this I chose to begin the song by repeating ‘they’re all gonna laugh at you!’ When in the studio I pointed at the last Reatard’s album, Grown Up, Fucked Up as a reference for what I was trying to achieve sonically.

For the video, director Johnny Eastlund and I decided we wanted to make an Ice Cream themed Nunchucking Western so I tagged in one of my instagram nunchuck idols Ariel Kellog to help me battle an evil talent show judge, played by Tim Heidecker, who is taunting his contestants, most notably a little girl in a bumble bee costume. The video also features comedian Caleb Heron, my bandmate Cyrus Gengras, Azniv Korkejian (aka Bedouine), Jess Wolfe (who is 1/2 of Lucius), and more.”

You can pre-order the album HERE.