Portland, Maine-based indie trio LOVE BY NUMB3RS--co-vocalists DAN CONNOR and ANNA LOMBARD and multi-instrumentalist JON ROODS--have today (July 13) shared the video for “Earth Needs A Moon” ahead of the single’s July 15 digital release. With its big spacious sound, rootsy feel and the soulful vocals of DAN and ANNA, “Earth Needs A Moon” marks the first single from LOVE BY NUMB3RS’ second album that’s due out September 30. As with the band’s previous self-directed videos, “Earth Needs A Moon” lures viewers with its moody and compelling imagery. Watch the video here and see the quotes below from ANNA.
The song video was premiered yesterday with Glide Magazine, which noted that “the dramatic title track song and video that showers our ears with the dramatic interplay between the trio that takes listeners to a nostalgic hideout where secrets are sheltered and sins are forgotten. There is a bleeding guitar solo midway through the song as Lombard pours her fervently soulful vocals into the song’s building storyline.”
The EARTH NEEDS A MOON album, produced by JON and ANNA, is filled with haunting and evocative songs about love, devotion and more with finely etched, atmospheric settings, over which the band cast their spells. The tracks are sonically wide-open and move slowly, however confidently, and make the listener feel like they are floating in air on a journey somewhere. The album was recorded at Fisher’s Waterhouse on Peaks Island as well as the band’s South Ranch studio. EARTH NEEDS A MOON follows the band’s November 2021 Colours EP and doesn’t repeat any of its songs. This is the music of a band who freewheelingly chart a course through eloquent alternative, Americana and roots rock.
The video for “Earth Needs A Moon” was shot in a town called Industry, Maine where there are rolling hills and back roads and lots of expansive landscapes with wildflowers and fields. It is based on a story and art by celebrated artist and their friend Pat Corrigan. The band got his permission to use his drawings and bring them to life in the video.
QUOTES FROM ANNA LOMBARD ABOUT THE “EARTH NEEDS A MOON” VIDEO AND SONG
--Jon and I co-directed and filmed this video. We also co-produced and edited ourselves, with the majority of the editing falling on Jon.
--Pat Corrigan is a very celebrated artist of many mediums and one of our dearest friends. When I stumbled upon his Instagram post, I was specifically really drawn to the content of the conversation bubbles in his drawings talking about the earth and the moon. I felt this overwhelming feeling of some semblance of cosmic connection, as though stars had aligned between what his drawings were meant to convey and the concept/context behind writing this song. It couldn’t have just been by coincidence. So we felt very compelled to dig deeper and bring his drawings to life by reenacting them within our video.
--We ended up renting a trailer and bringing Jon’s 1976 Honda 550 Four K motorcycle along with all our gear for the festival we were playing the night before in the neighboring town, and we stayed up there for a few days to film. It was kind of cool that the Tau Herculids meteor shower was happening at the same time--the visibility of the night sky up in Industry is like no other…which is cool because of how much this record is influenced by the workings of the universe and the moon etc.
--In regards to the song’s lyrics/meaning, Dan had come up with a rough sketch of lyrics for first verse which ended with the line “earth needs a moon”--I knew immediately that he was referring to our musical partnership and history--but I wanted to get deeper into understanding the actual scientific reasons the earth needs a moon so I went into my typical manic mode and researched all about WHY the earth needs a moon, and all the things that would be different if we had no moon. Without the moon, human life would change so significantly: nights would be darker, days would be longer, the earth would slow down because we wouldn’t have the moon’s gravitational pull, there would be no tides or seasons. I could go on and on and on--but the main point is that the moon stabilizes the earth. If the moon disappeared, life as we know it would be disastrous.
--So the second verse where I come in, I tried to reverse the concept--“when you’re hiding out in the daytime but I know you’re always there” (referencing Dan’s illness and effects of chemo and all the time he’s sleeping during the day)-- but even when you can’t see the moon, you know it exists and is still out there. The lyric “When you only give me half of you” is about how Dan has struggled with his illness and doesn’t always have the ability to be in the studio, or he’s had to bow out of filming or recording because he’s ill.
--"I never want to see your darker side” references the influence that Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” has on this song but also the darkness that comes with cancer and addiction.