Popular Music — the Los Angeles/Melbourne-based duo of former Parenthetical Girls leader Zac Pennington and Australian composer Prudence Rees-Lee — is proud to present “Lifetime Achievement,” the debut single and video for the forthcoming album Minor Works, out October 13, 2023 via the group’s own Sanitarium Sound Services imprint.
Featuring the peerless rhythm section of Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier and celebrated composer Jherek Bischoff (David Byrne, Angel Olsen, Xiu Xiu), “Lifetime Achievement” begins in medias res — with our narrator braving the stage of some dismal awards ceremony. As the song's cascade of novelistic imagery deepens, the picture transforms from pathetic to poignant, revealing that things may not be exactly as they appear.
lyrics
There’s a stranger in the spotlight centerstage
He reads from a list of names
I wait backstage
In some nameless hotel basement banquet hall
I come when my name is called
The audience stands
As the stage producer cues the pre-recorded band
The “Fanfare For the Common Man”
And from the stage
It’s strange how the footlights shroud the faces of the crowd
They’ve paused the applause sign now
The moment has come
The roll of the drum
Stripped to the waist
In front of grace and god and everyone
We know what you’ve done
“...and on behalf of all assembled here,
To mark the end of this illustrious career…”
But I’m still not clear
How long have we been here?
Or even where it is we are
I remember a darkened car
Then years flash by
And sometimes the memories drift to better fit the rhyme
Six lines in the New York Times
The moment has come
And thy will be done
Is that the sound of Sarah Brightman singing “Requiem”?
Sent down from above
And the crowd, they’re throwing flowers now
There’s a coronation with a pastel paper crown
And when the spotlight’s just right
The flashbacks and cataracts
They make like second-sight
All soft-focus sequined white
The moment has come
The moment is done
Lift up your lace
In front of grace and god and everyone
The end has begun
credits
from Minor Works of Popular Music,
track released August 4, 2023
Written and produced by Zac Pennington and Prudence Rees-Lee
