Chris Stamey (The dB’s) taps Jason Schwartzman for Beach Boys-inspired “I’d Be Lost Without You” video

Chris Stamey of The dB’s will release new album Anything Is Possible on July 11 via Label 51 Recordings. The album features contributions from The Lemon Twigs, Wilco’s Pat Sansone, Probyn Gregory (Brian Wilson band), Marshall Crenshaw, Mitch Easter, Don Dixon, Kelly Pratt, and more.

The first single from the album is “I’d Be Lost Without You,” a sunshine-filled number loaded with powerpop hooks, and harmonies by The Lemon Twigs. “Brian and Michael of the Twigs kindly agreed to sing harmony on several songs on the new album but needed to record their parts remotely, in their Vegetable Attic studio in NYC, and I’d sent them some scratch ideas and asked them to sing just 1-2 of the parts on this one,” Chris says. “But they ended up totally surprising me and doing all ten parts of the complicated choral arrangement! I still remember the day I heard what they’d done for the first time . . . it was impeccable and amazing! Brothers that sing together in close harmony can make the heavens open up.”

We’ve got the premiere of the song’s video which features Jason Schwartzman in three different roles. Chris says they “fixated on footage of Al Jardine, Brian Wilson, and Bruce Johnston singing on a Pet Sounds Beach Boys session and restaged it for the video, with Jason playing all the parts, one at a time natch, as the three different characters.” He adds, “It was totally fun, but of course everything with Jason is fun, including the way he introduces the whole affair. Legendary music video editor Norwood Cheek worked his editing magic, and this is the result.” Watch the video, and read more about the song and video from Chris, below.

Chris Stamey on “I’d Be Lost Without You”:

The recording of this song started with me pounding out the chords on piano, to which Mitch Easter then added a great twangy, reverbed-out Fender Bass VI à la Carol Kaye. Next came Rob Ladd’s distinctive “orchestral” snare drum and drumkit flourishes. I then added guitars galore. But it was when the Lemon Twigs’ harmonies came into the picture, it morphed into something bigger . . . much bigger. Brian and Michael of the Twigs kindly agreed to sing harmony on several songs on the new album but needed to record their parts remotely, in their Vegetable Attic studio in NYC, and I’d sent them some scratch ideas and asked them to sing just 1-2 of the parts on this one. But they ended up totally surprising me and doing all ten parts of the complicated choral arrangement! I still remember the day I heard what they’d done for the first time . . . it was impeccable and amazing! Brothers that sing together in close harmony can make the heavens open up.

Then ace NC musician Wes Lachot helped me carefully blend and balance all the parts, and we even added a few more. Last, Probyn Gregory (Brian Wilson Band) got to work with just the right flugelhorn and trombone touches. When it was all done, I mixed it up at my place (Modern Recording).

We were all quite pleased with the result, to be honest. So Cogan McMichaels (DP) and Zac Richey (LD) and I decided to make a video for it, and even if the exact lineup of players couldn’t be there, we figured out a way to suggest most of the arrangement on camera with three players. We just didn’t have background singers in the frame, however. A few days later, however, Jason Schwartzman (the multitalented actor/writer/musician cat) happened to be passing through town, and he offered to do a quick cameo to complete it. We fixated on footage of Al Jardine, Brian Wilson, and Bruce Johnston singing on a Pet Sounds Beach Boys session and restaged it for the video, with Jason playing all the parts, one at a time natch, as the three different characters. It was totally fun, but of course everything with Jason is fun, including the way he introduces the whole affair. Legendary music video editor Norwood Cheek (who is also half of the new band Bass Battery, with Rob Ladd—you’ll be hearing from them!) worked his editing magic, and this is the result.

Although this production admittedly evokes the summery sixties LA United Western sound, it began differently: with my fascination for Jerome Kern’s “All the Things You Are,” a song that winds through ever-shifting key centers but seems melodically inevitable all the while. Originally, as written on piano, it sounded like a song Chet Baker might have sung: sparse, nocturnal, and intimate. I learned a lot about the Beach Boys recording style from studio work with Alex Chilton, something else I have to thank him for.