Concord RecordsElvis Costello has released the fourth advance single from his upcoming studio album, Hey Clockface, which is due out on October 30.
The track, “Hey Clockface/How Can You Face Me?,” is available now as a digital download and via streaming services. As with the other three previously issued songs from the album, a companion animated lyric video for the latest tune has debuted at Costello’s official YouTube channel.
“Hey Clockface/How Can You Face Me?” is one of nine songs from the upcoming album that Elvis recorded in Paris, accompanied by an ensemble called “Le Quintette Saint Germain” that included his longtime keyboardist, Steve Nieve, as well as a horn player, a cellist, a reed player and a drummer/percussionist.
“This is a song about picking an argument with time, the very clock face, either running too fast or too slow, depending on the company you keep,” Costello explains of the gypsy jazz-influenced tune.
The nine songs from the Paris sessions were recorded over a two-day period. “I sang live on the studio floor with the ensemble playing everything I wanted to hear and nothing that I didn’t,” recalls Elvis.
As previously reported, Hey Clockface also features songs that Costello recorded in Helsinki, Finland, and remotely with musicians in New York City. The three previously released tracks — “We Are All Cowards Now,” “Hetty O’Hara Confidential” and “No Flag” — are all from the Helsinki sessions.
Here’s the full Hey Clockface track list:
“Revolution #49”
“No Flag”
“They’re Not Laughing at Me Now”
“Newspaper Pane”
“I Do (Zula’s Song)”
“We Are All Cowards Now”
“Hey Clockface/How Can You Face Me?”
“The Whirlwind”
“Hetty O’Hara Confidential”
“The Last Confession of Vivian Whip”
“What Is It That I Need That I Don’t Already Have?”
“Radio Is Everything”
“I Can’t Say Her Name”
“Byline”
By Matt Friedlander
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