Jason Hill initially made his name with the cheeky garage-rock gang Louis XIV, but he’s been incredibly busy behind the scenes since that band went on hiatus in 2009. As a studio staple (producer, engineer, songwriter), he’s put in work with the Killers, the Bronx, the Virgins, David Bowie, Sky Ferreira, Macy Gray, and a whole heap of others over the years, plus masterminded a brand new project dubbed Vicky Cryer. Hill is the ringleader on the forthcoming album The Synthetic Love of Emotional Engineering, cracking whip on a rotating cast of high-profile players: Dominic Howard (Muse), Mark Stoermer (the Killers), Nick Fyffe (Jamiroquai), Dave Elitch (Mars Volta), Jeff Kite (Beat Club), and Alex Carapetis (Julian Casablancas). New York Dolls’ David Johanssen even plays harmonica at some point.
Above you’ll find the LP’s titular song, a slowly seething, slightly psychedelic experiment in maintaining impossible cool against a relationship that’s failing. “Well, I’ll move / Yeah, I’ll move ’cause I’m not moved anymore,” Hill sings with an almost Oberstian quaver before an aqueous guitar solo arrives to underscore the strummy plod and reverbed drum rolls that drive the song. In the clip, the band actually plays underwater while synchronized swimmers do amazing things with glowsticks and gold lamé suits. It’s a trippy, sax-addled journey into the depths orchestrated by a man with a real flare for rock’n’roll strangeness. Oh, and tell your boss to relax — that’s only mannequin boob.
