LA VELLA AVAILABLE IN STORES AND ONLINE ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16
“While sometimes Nanna is in a more stripped down mode for The City On Film, this one sounds like it could have been right off that new Braid record.” – Brooklyn Vegan
Topshelf Records and 22-year punk/indie/emo veteran Bob Nanna (Braid) have released another song from The City On Film‘s La Vella, the forthcoming album from Nanna’s solo side project. Premiering over at USA Today, “Remember To Breathe” is the second track revealed from the album behind “You Wild Thing (An Illuminous Life),” which recently premiered on Brooklyn Vegan. Being released on Tuesday, December 16, La Vella was produced by Nanna and Jeff Dean at Million Yen in Chicago, IL, and follows the release of Braid’s critically acclaimed return, No Coast, that was released in July of 2014. La Vella can now be pre-ordered through the Topshelf Records website HERE.
In January 2014, Bob Nanna was laid off from what he described as the “perfect day job.” Undeterred, he began to create a new perfect day job, playing music (with seminal emo band,Braid, a young frenetic upstart, Lifted Bells, and the downtempo electronic band with his wife named Jack & Ace). He also focused attention on his custom songwriting website,Downwrite.com, which fueled the inspiration for this newest album from his solo project The City On Film, entitled La Vella.On Downwrite, Nanna sourced stories from nine fans and turned them into tracks on this new album, the second full-length solo record after 2007’s In Formal Introduction. Lead off track “You Wild Thing (An Illuminous Life)” tells of a chance meeting and a bonding over The Pogues, Ted Leo, and gym shoes. “Take The Ghosts” addresses personal conflict after a tragedy while “Stray” takes on wanderlust in the Big Apple. Nanna used a request for a soundtrack to a charity bike trek to create “Kill It!,” a song about a close-to-home battle with lymphoma. The album concludes with “Andorra La Vella,” the most personal song on the record, written independently of Downwrite, recalling a big red dictionary in the Nanna household, highlighting countries and capitals, and a few poignant songs he cannot listen to anymore.
The City on Film, as solo vehicle, debuted in 1999 during a Braid hiatus and has been active, albeit in the background, since. Given the success of his various musical projects and Downwrite, Nanna hopes to keep The City On Film forever alive to tell his stories and the stories of his friends and fans.
The City On Film will be making the following appearance December.
DECEMBER
20 – Chicago, IL – Metro (Bob Nanna solo)
La Vella tracklisting:
You Wild Thing (An Illuminous Life)
Noise Machines
Take The Ghosts
I Blindly
Remember To Breathe
Stray
Kill It!
ZZZ
Easy Living Rooms
NY Movie
Andorra La Vella
