With a full album and a North America tour on the horizon, Lewis OfMan is back with his upbeat new single ‘Hey Lou’ alongside Parisian singer Camille Jansen. The track will appear on 'Cristal Medium Blue', Lewis’ transformative LP and follow-up to his debut album 'Sonic Poems' released in February last year.
‘Hey Lou’ is a fitting way to announce the upcoming LP, with the young star crafting a playful duet with Camille Jansen out of an irresistible arpeggiated synth riff. Lyrically exploring the self-reflective themes of life on the road, the multi-instrumentalist conjures up a joyful and life-affirming blend of shuffling percussion, solo guitars, nostalgic keys and sunny harmonies.
“I wrote this song in Greece, pretty much at the same time I was working on ‘Highway’. The arpeggio synth and rhythm machine come from messing around with this Yamaha PS30 I had” Lewis says. “Then I found this voice melody. I was thinking about Leonard Cohen’s ‘Death of a Ladies’ Man’ album, as well as ‘So Long Marianne’ - hence the choir sample.”
About the song’s themes, Lewis continued, “The lyrics are really personal. It’s a song to coach yourself when you're down, and tell yourself it’s all good”
Reflecting on working with Lewis again, Camille says “we met when I was making my EP ‘Louise’ back in 2019 in Eagle Rock and fast forward to 4 years later we found ourselves once again in the same city but this time he asked me if I’d like to sing on his new song ‘Hey Lou’. I feel that we’ve always had a good balance collaborating together and this song was one of those natural moments where our ideas and inspirations all coincided and flowed with ease in that one day in the studio. We came up with some new melodies and how I could complement his ideas.”
She adds, “The music video we shot had also quite a personal and DIY touch to it as we drove two hours outside of LA, meeting our friend Pierre to shoot us in the super bloom fields. No plan to the shots that were made, just creating little moments that could tell a version of the story behind his lyrics. I’m very excited for the world to hear this one!”
The accompanying music video that premiered earlier today was shot by Pierre Auroux in the California Poppy Fields, it features Lewis wandering through sparse country, guitar in hand and Camille in tow. The visual’s blissed-out, nomadic feel ties into his recent documentary about life on the road, which was shot during his North American tour last Spring and documented sold-out shows in New York, Los Angeles, Coachella, Toronto, Salt Lake City and more.
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