As LANDy, Adam Goldberg isn’t just playing musician

Kevin Bronson on
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Oh, you say, another actor’s musical tangent. Indeed, on the surface that’s what actor-director-producer Adam Goldberg’s debut as LANDy is – even if, as he points out, he is merely an “occasionally famous actor.” I interviewed Goldberg for a piece in the Los Angeles Times, and, not to steal from that piece, suffice to say that Goldberg, 39, is zen about people who might automatically dismiss his music, which he is very serious about.

“When I’m not working, I’m working on music,” he says. “Acting is sporadic work, and it’s not like you can practice monologues in the your living room.”

“Eros and Omissions,” out next week on his own Apology Music label, finds Goldberg and his collaborators assembling some six years worth of songwriting and home recordings into a rather sprawling document. The album was made with the help of members of the L.A. band the Black Pine, Flaming Lips drummer Steven Drozd and Earlimart’s Aaron Espinoza, who with Goldberg attacked the mountainous task of piecing together the artist’s previous tracks, re-recording some others at the Ship studio and mixing it all into a “cohesive document.”

The album isn’t quite that, though Goldberg acknowledges that its lovelorn, introspective qualities make it “pretty one-note, emotionally.” Sonically, LANDy works with John Lennon as a foundation, using orchestration and subtle electronics to construct his multi-layered dream-pop. There are some nifty songs here – “BFF!” , “Every Time It’s Over” and “I’ll Be Around” in particular – as well as some interesting sonic experiments (“Cry Me a River” and “The Beginning”). But as you might suspect from an album six years in the making, there are also some ideas that come off as overthought, given Goldberg’s obsession for trying to create moody soundscapes.

“From the Actor’s Bedroom?” Maybe. There’s no question, though, that “Eros and Omissions” comes from the actor’s heart.

||| Download (previously posted via the Tripwire): “BFF!”

||| Live: LANDY performs Tuesday at the Echo.

||| Read: Brandon Kim’s interview with Goldberg on IFC.com.