Earlier this year, Half Japanese's Jad Fair revealed that he had a string of collaborative albums on the way. Now, we've got the details of his joint LP with pop-rock eccentric Danielson. Solid Gold Heart will be out on June 24.
The songs are based around Fair's voice and lyrics. He kick-started the process by sending Danielson (a.k.a. Daniel Smith) his vocal demos. Smith then wrote music for the songs and recorded them along with an assortment of collaborators — including members of his Danielson Famile and famed Galaxie 500 cohort Kramer — at his studio in Clarksboro, NJ.
According to an announcement, these 11 songs "sound like what you might expect, given the respective artists: gleaming tunes of sincere sing-speak, resplendent with sparkling back-up vocals and warmly melodic, inventive instrumentation; a sunshine-bright outlook of positive encouragement to keep 'rockin' on the side of goooood.'"
Smith said in a statement, "The goal was to make three-minute pop songs, as accessible and fun and immediate as possible."
This is part of Fair's "artist in residence" program with Joyful Noise Recordings, which will also yield collaborative albums with R. Stevie Moore, Strobe Talbot and Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake.