Zooey Celeste. Photo by Korey Dane
Zooey Celeste, a songwriter from California, specializes in a quietly driving psychedelic pop that explodes but never grazes the red. His voice has traces of Spencer Krug's warbling, mad prophet quality, delivering loving exhortations over compositions that sound fresh off a reel-to-reel plugged directly into his heart. As Celeste prepares to release Restless Thoughts, his debut album produced by Nick Hakim, on November 3, his latest single "Cosmic Being" premieres today on The FADER.
Despite what the title suggests, there's nothing especially new age-y about "Cosmic Being." Electric drums tap in the layers of fuzzy guitars that overlap and bleed into the empty space like a desert sunset; in this idyll, Celeste seeks the re-establishment of a connection. "All of myself to you/If it's the last thing that I do," he sings on the track's opening, sounding shaken yet resolute, and diving headfirst into that feeling as the song progresses.
“["Cosmic Being"] lived as a voice memo for years and then I brought it to Nick [Hakim]," Celeste wrote in a press statement. "It became another example of his taking something very small and intimate and giving it this huge amphitheater sound. That song felt like the beginning of moving toward writing lyrics that are earnest and inspiring but still hit hard. I think anyone in the pop world can write a sad song and sell it; I’m more interested in writing something positive in a way that’s completely genuine and feels really good to listen to.”
Of the album, he wrote: “Making this record showed me that if I’m not going beyond what the world has handed me as options, then I’m not being creative,” he says. “I went as far as I could with the process of self-exploration, and I felt fully supported in that—almost like everything was a little bit fated, or we were tapping into something in the ether. I’d love it if that inspired other people to go off and do whatever they feel compelled to do, and let themselves be completely entranced by it.”
See Celeste's upcoming California shows below, followed by streams of "Cosmic Being."
Zooey Celeste tour dates
October 23 - Los Angeles, CA - Bardot-Hollywood (KCRW Presents School Night)
November 10 - Los Angeles, CA - Genghis Cohen