Stereogum, August 28, 2020

From The Elvis Costello Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
... Bibliography ...
727677787980818283
848586878889909192
939495969798990001
020304050607080910
111213141516171819
202122232425 26 27 28


Stereogum

US online publications

-

Elvis Costello – “Phonographic Memory”


James Rettig

Elvis Costello is releasing a new album, Hey Clockface, at the end of October. The album was recorded in Helsinki, Paris, and New York earlier this year, and so far we’ve heard three songs that are on it: “No Flag,” “Hetty O’Hara Confidential,” and “We Are All Cowards Now.” Today, Costello is sharing a new song that doesn’t appear on the official tracklist. Instead, it’s the digital B-side to his most recent single, “We Are All Cowards Now.”

It’s called “Phonographic Memory” and it’s less a proper song and more of a short story. The story involves a ceremony presided over by someone called “President Swift,” and it incorporates an archival recording of Orson Welles’ voice. The track also has some guitar tunings in the background.

Here’s an excerpt: “After the peace was negotiated and the internet switched off, knowledge returned to its medieval cloister, in this and that illuminated volume, the jealous possession of the pious and the superstitious, who might once again wield ignorance like a scythe.

Hey Clockface is out 10/30 via Concord Records.


Tags: Phonographic MemoryHey ClockfaceHelsinkiParisNew YorkNo FlagHetty O'Hara ConfidentialWe Are All Cowards NowConcord Records

-

Stereogum, August 28, 2020


James Rettig previews the release of Hey Clockface.

Images

Phonographic Memory.png

-



Back to top

External links