FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 5, 2016
Alex Dezen (of The Damnwells) to release solo album on February 12th
On February 12, 2016, Alex Dezen (founder, frontman and main songwriter for the Brooklyn-bred four-piece The Damnwells) will embark on his next musical phase by issuing his first full-length solo set, an appropriately eponymous, deeply personal, 10-track self-portrait of a man now ready to lay the foundation for his own identity as a solo artist.
“When words alone are not enough, you need to say it in a song,” says Dezen, when asked why he felt now was the right time to write and record his inaugural full-fledged solo album. As Dezen describes, a creative burst during a stint in Ohio over New Year’s 2015 sowed the seeds for tracks that would be recorded in Los Angeles during January and February. “I didn’t write like 30 songs and just kind of pick the 10 best. These are 10 songs that I had to write.” The bulk of the sonic slices on the album are served up straight from past personal, and often painful, experiences. “The good thing about writing these songs is that when I have to talk about them I can just say, literally, all you have to do is read the lyrics. Because it’s not like its coached in some kind of flowery metaphor.”
The lyrical focus on family and friends, politics and pop culture portrayed in songs such as “Ode To Ex-Girlfriends” (a tender tribute to a series of exes and their moms), “If You Can Say I Love You On A Greeting Card How Can It Be True” (a tale of domestic drama), “Into the Hands of Hazelton” (a sonic equivalent of a buddy road picture), “Leonardo” (a tip of the cap to his girlfriend’s fantasy celebrity freebie, Leonardo DiCaprio) and the intensely personal “I Don’t Want To Be Alone When I Die,” led to Dezen’s decision not to collaborate with other writers on any of the songs on the record. “These are all me,” he says.
On his stellar solo set, Dezen does look back on his life, perhaps as far back as age 12 when he purchased his first guitar, a knockoff Stratocaster. But without question, he continues to move forward in his never-ending pursuit of professional perfection of crafting quality songs, while continuing to search for the seemingly equally unobtainable goal of personal bliss few of us will ever obtain. Dezen’s songs simply mirror the lives of so many of us who understand that the most personal songs are actually the most universal as well.
Dezen’s prowess for writing celebrated songs of every ilk is undeniable. In 2010, he earned his master’s degree from the University of Iowa after completing two years at the institution’s Iowa Writers’ Workshop. In 2014, Dezen released a series of four solo EPs. In March 2015, following a seven-year split, the original Damnwells lineup reunited and released their fifth studio album, a self-titled collection featuring 11 tracks. In addition to his contribution to The Damnwells’ vast canon of songs over the 15 years the band has been recording, Dezen has written for others and worked with a variety of superstars, including Dave Grohl, The Dixie Chicks, Justin Bieber and Kelly Clarkson, among many others. In 2015, he collaborated with the American dance company Pilobolus Dance Theater, composing the music for the dance piece “Wednesday Morning, 11:45 (2015),” which was performed at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.