Jesse Hartman who had a very successful time with his alt-pop project LAPTOP in the early part of this century releasing three classy albums; ‘Opening Credits’ (2000), ‘The Old Me vs. The New You’ (2001), and ‘Don’t Try This At Home’ (2003). I have been listening to those collections again and they have aged very well. Hartman is now working on a fourth LAPTOP album, ‘On This Planet’, with his son Charlie Hartman. The first results are “Weirder” released back in May and new single “Additional Animals”. It is a dark pop masterpiece about extinction, meat and the human urge for more. It has the classic LAPTOP alt-pop synth sound with some funky horns and was that some mandolin I heard too? The single was mixed by Mario McNulty who has worked with David Bowie, Prince, Nine Inch Nails, Laurie Anderson and Julian Lennon to name just a few. LAPTOP will be opening for UK indie darlings Cast in New York in September.
Jesse Hartman said this of the song “This song is about the human appetite — for meat, for more, for everything — and how that hunger’s eating us alive. It’s a song about extinction that you can dance to. The lyrics are a little more connected to the moment than usual for me — our failing planet, our endless consumption — but it’s still wrapped in this shimmering, international pop packaging. We tracked the song in hip Valencia, added harmonies and Caribbean instruments in Nevis, and finished it in our hood in New York. It’s a global pop fever dream about survival, meat, and the slightly hilarious fact that humans always want just a little more.” Lyrically it is pure brilliance. I love the lines that essentially deal with the demise of meat “Maybe cloning with help. Biotech can help. Another planet can help? Maybe god can help?” I love that it invokes such a range of things from biotech to god! Based on the two singles so far the new album is shaping up to be damned good!
Jesse directed the songs video and it is rather splendid! It was filmed during a surreal family summer in Valencia and features Jesse, Charlie and Jesse’s daughter Lulu. Jesse had this to say about the film. “It stars me, my kids, our percussionist Mike (who used to play with Brian Eno), and our Nevis family singer Denise. It’s chaotic and colorful and oddly hopeful — like maybe we’re not the last animals standing“. Watch the film, stream/ download/ buy the track, just do what you can to have this song in your life!
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