James Keith Norman and Beck Norman find the sweet spot between wakefulness and dreaming with their lush, sweeping new single and video Us, Wandering Wide Asleep — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
On the first single from their new EP Us, Upon Sleep, the married musical partners from Toronto evokes a shimmering, windy snow-covered prairie that somehow isn’t cold. Like the rest of their EP, it creates a soothing soundscape that stirs the imagination, reflects intimacy, and creates a sense of poignant romance. The five neo-classical cuts on Us, Upon Sleep feature brief movements to simulate and stimulate, dream-like imagery, while the spoken-word interludes on two of the tracks also suggest a sleep state. On I Swear I Saw You Today, Beck uses her gentle voice to evoke the ache of a memory, or maybe just something imagined:
“I swear I saw you today
Leaving a car
Running up great steps and into a house
But that couldn’t be right, could it?
I never actually told you how I first saw you
But it doesn’t matter, does it?
We’re here now and as long as I don’t wake up, we’re together.”
“To us, the most important part of the EP is that it invites listeners to create their own visions of what’s going on,” explains Beck. “So, each time they listen, there’s the potential for it to be a different experience.”
Like their previous album Love In Times Of War, Us, Upon Sleep was mixed and mastered in London by Grammy winner Matt Lawrence. The album’s cover art was created by playing around with brand-new technology. “Beck saw AI as another way to create artwork, and after hours and hours of learning and experimenting, she created a fantastic image that we’re using not only for the EP’s cover art, but have adapted for videos,” says James.
Beck and James have been creative partners almost as long as we’ve been married, and that’s decades. This new EP is their latest collaboration and part of a history that includes a published novel, running an award-winning audio-marketing agency, and 10-plus years’ worth of music.
Watch the animated video for Us, Wandering Wide Asleep above, check out the EP below, find Beck Norman on her website, Instagram and Twitter, and meet James Keith Norman at his website, Instagram and Twitter.
