Nashville-based R&B singer-songwriter R.LUM.R today released ALTERIMAGE, an EP featuring stunning new renditions of tracks from his debut, AFTERIMAGE. This new EP offers six tracks recorded live and in one take, incorporating a string quartet, grand piano, and acoustic guitars. Each song will be accompanied by its own uniquely themed video. Check out the EARMILK premiere of the video for his stripped down version of "Frustrated" (altered) below:
Oh man, how to put R.LUM.R into words. As a music critic, frustration comes mostly from the moments where I struggle to find enough words needed to describe certain performances at length. But R.LUM.R pulls on so many heartstrings that he evokes a flood of emotions that if I were to choose just a few descriptors I'd feel I'd be limiting the beauty and complexity of his music. But for this latest altered track, I'll start with 'vulnerable'. R.LUM.R in this video magnifies the heart that fuels the studio version of "Frustrated" and humbly displays it center stage while delivering it through gentle, earnest vocals and dazzling acoustic guitar strumming. They say silence can be one of the loudest sounds underutilized in music and when R.LUM.R beautifully hits those falsettos between each guitar pluck I feel like I want to cry and smile at the same time. Even though the ALTERIMAGE EP will allow fans to view the music through various lenses, the original soul of each track stays intact, even if it hits you a different way. This is a person in their most vulnerable state: a musician, alone with a mic, a guitar and opening their soul up for the whole world to see.
"The idea behind Alterimage is creating a different way of looking at the songs and their meanings. I love it when artists take something, and use the same material to create a different impression. When Ray Lamontagne covered Gnarls Barkley, The lyrics didn't change, but the impression totally did because of Lamontagne's delivery and perspective. In that same thought process, I wanted to be able to execute them in ways that highlight different things than Afterimage could. I think Alterimage does that. I'll never forget how raw the recording process felt, and how quickly it all came together. It felt very natural. We recorded everything over two days at the end of a 5 week full band tour, and I was honestly exhausted, which was probably the best way for me to approach this, because it made me very vulnerable. Recording the altered version of Frustrated felt a bit like a homecoming, because it was the last one I recorded, and one of the songs that got me to a point where I could do something like this, and have an audience ready to receive it. Playing it in its original form like that felt like thanking the song to me. I'm very proud of it, to be honest." " R.LUM.R
R.LUM.R will be performing at SXSW, Bonnaroo and Hangout Festival, with more to come.
ALTERIMAGE is out via PRMD and available on iTunes by clicking HERE.
Check out the full band version of the track which he performed live on the Jimmy Kimmel Show to compare below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1hG2Gmeexs&feature=share
