Kevin Bronson on June 19th, 2019

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First, there is the name. Singer-songwriter Stone Irr was born Stone Irr in Indiana, his parents oblivious to the punny name. The story goes that as soon as they found out, they offered to take him to the Lafayette, Ind., courthouse to have it changed. He was already in middle school.

Irr has relocated to Los Angeles, where his name could make him a cult hero if his songs don’t. And the music very well could — his tunes are rooted in the classic sounds of the ’60s (reminiscent of L.A.’s Avid Dancer), their impact amplified by multi-tracked vocals and swirls of orchestration. The Beatles, Beach Boys and ELO are obvious reference points, along with artists such as XTC, World Party and Sufjan Stevens.

“All We Want Anymore,” the first single from Irr’s forthcoming sophomore album “Performance,” has a heavenly shimmer that buoys the tune’s intentions — after all, he says, it’s a song about songwriting. “After I wrote it, I knew I wanted it to have this melancholic ELO-meets-the-Beatles vibe with a huge swell of strings at the end of the track,” Irr says. “This is the song I’ve always wanted to write and produce — something full and widescreen in sound. Funny enough, the lyrics are about how I like writing songs just for my own enjoyment; sort of a love letter to songwriting.”

The song is part of the bigger picture behind “Performance,” on which Irr dissects the relationship between the audience and performer, the observer and the observed. It’s relevant in a time so many are “sharing your life on the screen,” as he sings in the album’s lead track, “Nosedive.”

“Performance,” the follow-up to Irr’s 2017 debut “Sinner,” is out Sept. 20.

||| Stream: “All We Want Anymore”