Looking back at how the process started, Hoffs says she and Camerieri “would just start talking.”
“CJ always said that I would start telling a story that might not have even had anything to do with anything, but it came into being and somehow worked its way into the song,” the 67-year-old shares. “So it was like stories from my life or things that popped into my head. I don’t even know where it comes from exactly.”
The Bangles icon Susanna Hoffs has announced a new solo album featuring Rufus Wainwright and many more.
Entitled ‘The List’, the record sees Hoffs turn “her deepest, decade-spanning memories” into 12 songs with a guest heavy host of musicians including Semisonic’s Dan Wilson, Paul Simon‘s wife Edie Brickell, Greg Leisz, Ryan Lerman, Desure, Jesse Harris, Ny Oh, Grant Milliken, Spencer Zahn and Larry Goldings.
It is set to land on September 18 via Baroque Folk. You can pre-order it here.
The first song from the record, ‘Casablanca’ has also been shared, which you can listen to below.
Inspired both “by a rewatch of the film Casablanca, and the surreal New Orleans encounter Susanna Hoffs had with the Grateful Dead‘s Bob Weir in 1988 – a walk through the French Quarter, an impromptu parade of Dead Heads forming behind them – it is a song about possibility, and what might have been,” according to a press release.
The album was recorded in her LA home and produced by CJ Camerieri. Other tracks on the album include ‘What Are Wings For’ a musical adaptation of Hoffs’ debut novel, This Bird Has Flown.
Sung by the story’s protagonist, Jane Start, it is “a declaration of personal and artistic freedom, as Jane finds the courage to break free from expectation and claim her own moment in the spotlight, finding her own voice”.
Despite being happily married to filmmaker Jay Roach for over 30 years, the musician notes that “feeling lonely” is natural — and something nearly everyone can relate to, no matter their phase of life.
“You can still sometimes feel lonely when it’s now the empty nest because our two kids have grown and left the nest. Sometimes, even when you have friends, there are still gaps,” she shares. “There was something there to write about, hitting a certain age in my life in my 60s now, and the kids are gone, and they have their own adult lives.”
The tracklisting for ‘The List’ is:
1. ‘Casablanca’
2. ‘Where Do We Go’
3. ‘None Of Them Were You’
4. ‘Time’
5. ‘Bad Case Of Loneliness’
6. ‘Learn A Lesson Twice’
7. ‘Fool’
8. ‘Vertigo’
9. ‘This Island’
10. ‘Good Luck’
11. ‘Without You’
12. ‘What Are Wings For’
