ENVY OF NONE, the new band from Alex Lifeson (RUSH), Andy Curran (CONEY HATCH), Alfio Annibalini and singer Maiah Wynne, has released the official music video for the song “Never Said I Love You”. The track is taken from ENVY OF NONE‘s self-titled debut album, which arrived on April 8 via Kscope.
According to Curran, the “Never Said I Love You” video, a Blacktide Phonic/Visual Production, “really captured the spirit of the song. It’s very cinematic and I love all the moody cityscapes. The main character is very free spirited, and the video loosely follows the narrative in a subtle way. I love the picking of the flower petals: ‘He loves me, he loves me not? Isn’t that what life’s all about …wanting to be loved or accepted?”
On the song, Andy continues: “‘Never Said I Love You’ is a very special one for me and Alf. It had been kicking around for a while in a demo form and the bed track always felt like it had so much potential. When we wrote the backing tracks, we were certainly feeling it had some punk/pop overtones. I think we were channeling late ’80s Britpop vibrations, and I came up with the lyric line ‘I Never Said I Love You’, again inspired by bands like THE CURE, DEPECHE MODE, THE SMITHS and ULTRAVOX who all wrote about broken hearts on the dance floors around the world. So I thought it was time to re-introduce that theme but with something that was more upbeat.
BAND REACTION
“When Maiah and I spoke about this, she liked that lyrical hook and ran with it. The icing was Alex coming in and in the 11th hour adding the awesome middle section that sounds like pedal steel and the acoustic guitars in the chorus just elevate it to the next level.
“My initial thought lyrically was more of a ‘back off, I never said I love you.’ Kinda like, ‘hey we’re just friends,’ but I love how Maiah turned that into something much different.”
Wynne adds: “This song had great energy from the beginning.
“Everyone connects and interprets music from their own unique perspective.
“When I heard the line ‘I Never Said I Love You’, I thought of it more from the point of view of someone who never had the chance to tell the person they love how they felt before it was too late. Maybe a bad fight in a relationship that never had a resolution, or a casual fling that never became a serious relationship despite deeper feelings being there, or friends with romantic feelings that never became lovers.
“When I wrote and arranged the rest of the lyrics and vocal melodies for the song I wrote it with that sense of connection, tension, loss, and longing in mind.”
ENVY OF NONE is:
* Alf Annibalini – Guitar, Keyboards, Programming
* Andy Curran – Bass Guitar, Synthesized Bass, Programming, Guitar, Background Vocals, Stylophone
* Alex Lifeson – Guitar, Mandola, Banjo, Programming
* Maiah Wynne – Lead Vocals, Background Vocals, Keyboards
“Envy Of None” track listing:
01. Never Said I Love You [04:06]
02. Shadow [03:21]
03. Look Inside [04:44]
04. Liar [03:13]
05. Spy House [02:23]
06. Dog’s Life [04:36]
07. Kabul Blues [03:12]
08. Old Strings [05:15]
09. Dumb [04:19]
10. Enemy [04:16]
11. Western Sunset [02:25]
Lifeson is no stranger to evolution
As a founding member of RUSH, he’s been able to explore more musical ground than just about any other guitar player out there — taking rock to new progressive heights throughout the decades and always in the most wildly inventive of ways. His influence can be heard on countless bands around the world, from indie shoegaze and math rock to heavy metal and beyond.
Over the last few years, Lifeson has been focusing on a new project that, no matter how well-acquainted you are with his discography, will undoubtedly shatter all seeds of expectation and blow the mind. That project is ENVY OF NONE.
“Envy Of None”‘s 11 tracks — which ricochet between various shades of alternative, experimental and synth rock — throw surprises at every turn, twisting dark melodies against contemporary pop hooks. Lifeson himself is proudly aware of how little of it crosses over with the band that made him famous.
However, it was only when Wynne became involved that this truly started to feel like a band destined to go somewhere. Her haunting melodies and soul-baring intensity is — by the admission of her own bandmates — what truly brought this music to life. All things considered; she is a star in the making.
“I sent over an early version of the song ‘Shadow’,” explains Curran. “When I played what she’d done back to the others they were like, ‘Who is this crazy talented person?!'”
FIRST SINGLE
The album’s first single, “Liar”, was released in January. Its industrial beats, driving fuzz bass and atmospheric guitars concoct a seductive swirl indeed — thrilling in ways closer to the darker art rock of DEPECHE MODE, NINE INCH NAILS and A PERFECT CIRCLE than anything these musicians have been known for prior.
“Maiah became my muse,” says Lifeson. “She was able to bring this whole new ethereal thing through her sense of melody on tracks like ‘Liar’ and ‘Look Inside’. After hearing her vocals on ‘Never Said I Love You’, I felt so excited. I’ve never had that kind of inspiration working with another musician. When we say she’s special, it’s because she’s really fucking special.”
“One of my favorite things about these songs is the intimacy of them,” reveals Wynne. “It makes them feel different and more honest. There are some heavier songs too, like ‘Enemy’, and then tracks like ‘Kabul Blues’, that sound completely different to anything else.”
The album closer, “Western Sunset”, which was penned by Lifeson in tribute to his dear friend Neil Peart. It’s a highly emotive piece of music to honor a man deeply missed by the rock community at large, and even more so by those who were lucky enough to know him.
“I visited Neil when he was ill,” says Lifeson. “I was on his balcony watching the sunset and found inspiration. There’s a finality about a sunset that kinda stayed with me throughout the whole process. It had meaning. It was the perfect mood to decompress after all these different textures… a nice way to close the book.”
