We’re happy to premiere the first single, “All That I Am” from Overnight Lows, the new album from Sunny Ozell.
Overnight Lows, which is set for release on February 28, gleams with engaging melodies and intelligent wordplay, performed with a sophisticated fluency in pop, jazz, soul and Americana dialects that makes it a delight to behold.
Videos by American Songwriter
Players on the record include Jay Bellerose (Robert Plant, Alison Krauss), Tyler Chester (George Ezra), Andy Hess (The Black Crowes, David Byrne) and Rich Hinman (Sara Bareilles). The album was recorded at Village Studios in Los Angeles.
The new album, Sunny said, “is not exactly a concept record, but there is a solid theme running through the tunes of struggle and resolution, and that is certainly the case with `All That I Am.’
“As more or less a life-long insomniac, I’m well acquainted with things that go bump in the night, all those thoughts and memories and worries that come to visit you at two in the morning. I’ve spent a good part of my adult life running away from these visitors, but in recent years I’ve decided to turn and face them with resolve, and even a dash of curiosity.
“It turns out my own personal shadows aren’t so scary or insurmountable, and are perhaps even a vital part of my selfhood. ‘All That I Am’ is an ode to me, my self, and the totality of who I am. The road to self-knowledge is never over, and (on most days) I’m no longer afraid of the journey. ‘For my Mama, and my Nana, no beggin’ that shit stops with me’ is quite possibly the lyric I’m most proud of on this record; I frequently give myself chills when I hear it. Matriarchy is powerful, and I endeavor in my life to make the women who came before me proud, and to honor their legacy.
“When I first spoke with the video’s director Alissa Toriven, she had already intuitively picked up on these threads of internal conflict tempered by fortitude, and she came up with a treatment that was a no-brainer for me. The idea of a `breaking a horse’ as a metaphor for taming and collaborating with the disparate parts of my interior seemed to me to be a perfect narrative fit. And aesthetically, the impenetrable darkness broken by a pool of light was a ravishing notion that was totally in keeping with all the light/dark going on in Overnight Lows on the whole.
“To achieve this meant a night shoot, and damn does it get cold in the desert at night. But as an added evocative bonus, the low temperatures meant that you could see the exhalations of the horse! Working with horses was a total privilege, and I’m delighted by the way this video came together.”
Here is “All That I Am”:
