Earlier in the summer, Sufjan Stevens and Asthmatic Kitty labelmate Angelo De Augustine announced their collaborative album, A Beginner’s Mind, which is set for release on September 24. The indie-folkies also released two lovely tracks, “Reach Out” and “Olympus.” Today, they have two more for us, “Back To Oz” and “Fictional California,” the latter of which is based on the 2004 straight-to-DVD sequel to Bring It On, titled Bring It On Again.
Check out the trippy single art below.
In a statement, De Augustine had this to say about “Back To Oz,” which is based on the 1985 film starring Fairuza Balk:
“This was a song that I had written mostly at home in California. We finished its lyrics after watching Return To Oz. The words reference an erosion of a central character’s internal reality. A loss of innocence is the impetus for a journey to find inner truth. In the film, Dorothy returns to the world of Oz to find its landscape in ruins and its citizens frozen in stone. Only she can find the ruby slippers and return peace to Oz. Only we can save ourselves, but we first have to remember who we truly are.”
Stevens added:
“Angelo is mostly known for his intimate home recordings; his music is quiet and confessional/ So for ‘Back To Oz,’ we decided to go for something flashier. The song has a fun guitar groove, so we gave it some bass and drums, and Angelo even recorded his first electric guitar solo. It’s a sad song — being mostly about disillusionment — but it has a great party vibe too.”
Check out both singles above.
A Beginner’s Mind is out 9/24 via Asthmatic Kitty. Pre-order it here.
