''Falling off the Lavender Bridge'' is the debut album by British artist

Lightspeed Champion Devonté Hynes (born David Joseph Michael Hynes, 23 December 1985), also known as Blood Orange and formerly Lightspeed Champion, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and director based in New York City. From 2004 to 2006, Hynes was ...

, which was released on 21 January 2008. The album features the singles "Galaxy of the Lost", "

Midnight Surprise "Midnight Surprise" is the second single from Lightspeed Champion's album ''Falling off the Lavender Bridge''. The single was released on 10" vinyl by Domino Records. The full title of the song, which can be found in the CD booklet, is "Midnight ...

" and " Tell Me What It's Worth".

Recording

Devonté Hynes, the main musician in Lightspeed Champion, flew to Omaha, Nebraska in early

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

to flesh out the songs that he'd written with Mike Mogis, resident producer for Saddle Creek records and a member of Bright Eyes. He stayed there for several months in a guest house decorated by Mogis and Conor Oberst. 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, The Faint's drummer Clark Baechle and guest vocalist Emmy the Great—along with moonlighting members of

Cursive Cursive (also known as script, among other names) 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 functionalit ...

and Tilly and the Wall. According to Hynes, the album is in two-halves; a mixture of his dreams and life experiences. The lavender 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 Devonté Hynes (born David Joseph Michael Hynes, 23 December 1985), also known as Blood Orange and formerly Lightspeed Champion, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and director based in New York City. From 2004 to 2006, Hynes was ...

- vocals, guitar * Emmy the Great - additional vocals (tracks 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 12) *

Tim Kasher Timothy J. Kasher (born August 19, 1974) is an American musician from Omaha, Nebraska, and is the frontman of indie rock groups Cursive and the Good Life, both of which are on the Omaha-based record label Saddle Creek Records. Music Slowdo ...

- additional vocals (track 3) * Derek Pressnall,

Kianna Alarid Kianna Marie Alarid 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 with members of Park Ave. and The Faint, and befor ...

, Susan Sanchez, David Coyote Bones, Nik Fackler,

Joe Knapp Joe Knapp (Joseph Andrew Knapp) is an artist from Omaha, Nebraska. He is the lead singer and songwriter of Saddle Creek band Son, Ambulance. Knapp has also collaborated with friends and musicians such as Bright Eyes and David Dondero. Joe was Nebr ...

- group vocals (tracks 7, 12) * Clark Baechle - drums *Kimberley Salistean, Cynthia Ricker, Donna Carnes and Tracy Sands - strings * Nate Walcott - strings arrangement *Tom Clarke - cello *Miguel Picanco - oboe *Mark Benson - clarinet *Karen Murphy - flute * Mike Mogis - 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

Lightspeed Champion Album Review on Audiojunkies
2008 debut albums Dev Hynes albums Domino Recording Company albums Albums produced by Mike Mogis {{2000s-indie-rock-album-stub