''Falling off the Lavender Bridge'' is the debut album by British artist Lightspeed Champion, which was released on 21 January 2008. The album features the singles "Galaxy of the Lost", " Midnight Surprise" and " Tell Me What It's Worth".

Recording

Devonté Hynes, the main musician in Lightspeed Champion, flew to

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

in early

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

to flesh out the songs that he'd written with

Mike Mogis Mike Mogis is an American producer/mixer/engineer and multi-instrumentalist who owns ARC Studios (Another Recording Company) in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha. Mike, along with his brother A. J. Mogis, A.J. Mogis, founded Presto! Recording Stud ...

, resident producer for

Saddle Creek Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over his ...

records and a member of Bright Eyes. He stayed there for several months in a guest house decorated by Mogis and

Conor Oberst Conor Mullen Oberst (born February 15, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his work in Bright Eyes (band), Bright Eyes. He has also played in several other bands, including Desaparecidos (band), Desaparecidos, the Faint (previou ...

. An assortment of musicians came around to hang out and ended up playing on the record including Mogis himself, trumpet player and pianist

Nate Walcott Nate Walcott (born March 6, 1978) is an American musical composer, arranger, pianist, keyboardist, and trumpeter. He has composed the scores for several feature-length films, including 2014's ''The Fault in Our Stars''. He is a member of the ba ...

The Faint The Faint is an American indie rock band. Formed in Omaha, Nebraska, the band consists of Todd Fink, Graham Ulicny, Dapose and Clark Baechle. The Faint was originally known as Norman Bailer and included Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes (band), Brig ...

's drummer

Clark Baechle Clark Alan Baechle (born April 21, 1981) is an American founding member of the Omaha-based electronic rock band The Faint, along with his brother, Todd Fink. Although he is primarily known for playing drums, he also sings backing vocals and is ...

and guest vocalist

Emmy the Great Emma-Lee Moss (born 4 November 1983), known by her stage name Emmy the Great, is an English singer-songwriter. She has released four studio albums, '' First Love'', ''Virtue'', ''Second Love'' and ''April / 月音''. She sings in English and ...

—along with moonlighting members of

Cursive Cursive (also known as joined-up writing) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionality and m ...

and Tilly and the Wall. According to Hynes, the album is in two-halves; a mixture of his dreams and life experiences. The

lavender ''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of perennial flowering plants in the sage family, Lamiaceae. It is native plant, native to the Old World, primarily found across the drier, warmer regions of the Mediterranean ...

in the album title refers to a toy frog (made from lavender) Hynes' mother gave to him as a child to help him sleep.

Track listing

Notes

Hynes claims "I Could Have Done This Myself" is "about losing isvirginity" going on to state, "which is why it's called I Could Have Done This Myself. I later realised that it was actually referring to the second time I had sex; the first time was so traumatic I'd just blanked it out of my memory." "Dry Lips" describes the last time Hynes - who has to lead a relatively sober life because of stomach ulcers - had a hangover. The 'Wendela' mentioned in the name of the final track ("No Surprise (For Wendela)") is a reference to Hynes' mother.

Personnel

* Devonté Hynes - vocals, guitar *

- additional vocals (tracks 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 12) * Tim Kasher - additional vocals (track 3) *

Derek Pressnall Tilly and the Wall was an indie pop group from Omaha, Nebraska. Their name originated from a children's book called '' Tillie and the Wall'', written by Leo Lionni. They are particularly noted for having a tap dancer, Jamie Pressnall, provide ...

Kianna Alarid Kianna Marie Alarid is an American singer and bass-guitarist. She is the lead singer and co-writer of Yes You Are and singer and bass guitarist for the band Tilly and the Wall from Omaha, Nebraska. She was formerly in a band called Magic Kiss wi ...

, Susan Sanchez, David Coyote Bones, Nik Fackler, Joe Knapp - group vocals (tracks 7, 12) *

- drums *Kimberley Salistean, Cynthia Ricker, Donna Carnes and Tracy Sands - strings *

- strings arrangement *Tom Clarke - cello *Miguel Picanco - oboe *Mark Benson - clarinet *Karen Murphy - flute *

- producer, mixer, engineer

Charts

References

External links

Dev Hynes talking in extensive detail about the album

Lightspeed Champion official website

Lightspeed Champion Domino Records artists page
* 2008 debut albums Dev Hynes albums Domino Recording Company albums Albums produced by Mike Mogis {{2000s-indie-rock-album-stub