While Rain Phoenix and Kirk Hellie already have a bit of a collaborative history together, their new single marks their first release under the moniker Escape Artist Lovers. Having contributed to the melancholy chamber-pop sheen of Phoenix’s album River in 2019, Hellie takes a more central role in the new single “Hey Motherf*cker,” a gentle duet plunked out on a celeste piano and electric guitar which is abruptly interrupted halfway through when Hellie’s guitar wails through a solo that drowns out just about everything else.
“It’s a classic boy/girl love song,” Hellie shares of the track, which hints at the new project specializing in jarring twists on classic songwriting conventions as the multi-instrumentalist’s Mark Everett–esque vocals intertwine with the more familiar trill of his musical partner. “If cupid had a switchblade instead of an arrow. Love…like chewing on a bumblebee.”
Watch the wildly inspired lo-fi VHS video directed by Shane McKenzie playing up both the lullaby instrumentation and the track’s grungy edge below, and catch them live at Zebulon in LA on August 21.
