Acclaimed indie-pop band The Lives Of Famous Men are excited to share their new single “Parallel Lives” and its accompanying music video, directed by Lucas Ortiz Estefanell. The song is the latest pre-release single to be released from their anticipated new album End Times Elevator Music out April 24 which will be available digitally and as a limited edition vinyl release (pre-order).
On the single, the band’s lead singer Daniel Hall reflects:
In every relationship, there is the time that came before each other, and I wanted to write a love song about that time. ‘Parallel Lives’ isn’t about fate per se, but it’s an appreciation for the rest of the story of two people, and what is true about each of them that ultimately brings them together. Director Lucas Ortiz Estefanell’s concept for the video took this story into a whole different stratosphere, exploring the connections between many lives across time and space. It was so fun to collaborate with Lucas and his team on all the little details that populated this surrealist playground and brought a new dimension to the song.
End Times Elevator Music is an album about anxiety, specifically, the kind inseparable from the present moment. Lead single “No Alarm” catalogs political failure, climate catastrophe, and our collective inability to confront either, pairing its uneasy themes with a driving beat and the sharp wit The Lives of Famous Men are known for. “Lost in the Branches” turns its focus to a culture shaped by algorithms, lamenting the loss of discovery and community even as its lush synths and hook-heavy chorus feel primed to go viral. Elsewhere, the album wrestles with religion, war, and the emotional fallout that occurs when vast, abstract forces collide with family life.
The record also makes room for warmth and connection. “Parallel Lives” is an unconventional love song that traces two people’s paths long before they meet, while “The Imposter,” a guitar-forward duet, playfully explores the extremes of self-consciousness. The album’s closing title track brings compassion, and even a touch of wit, to what can feel like an impossible situation. After hearing the demo, producer Alex Newport said the song “made me cry, then also laugh by the end.”
Hailing from Alaska and now based primarily in Los Angeles, The Lives of Famous Men draw on a wide range of musical traditions to create a sound that’s distinctly their own. The Lives of Famous Men’s cerebral pop translates powerfully to the stage, earning them appearances everywhere from SXSW and MTV’s Campus Invasion Tour to Jimmy Kimmel Live, where they performed their breakout single “You’re Everyone I Know Right Now.”
Since forming in 2007, The Lives of Famous Men has collaborated with producers including James Paul Wisner (Paramore), Casey Bates (Portugal. The Man), and Paul Q. Kolderie (Radiohead), building a catalog with global reach. You’re as likely to hear The Angry Kids’ remix of “Annie Taylor” in a Beirut club as the folky “Leaves Are Coming Off of Branches” in a Portland café, while the buoyant fan favorite “Orchids” found a new audience through its prominent placement in Jennette McCurdy’s short film Strong Independent Women.
Nearly two decades into their career, The Lives of Famous Men return with their most complete, and perhaps most relevant, artistic statement to date.
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