The project sees Lifeson working with Coney Hatch founder/bassist Andy Curran, producer and engineer Alfio Annibalini, and singer-songwriter Maiah Wynne for the record.
“’Never Said I Love You’ is a very special one for me and Alf,” says Curran. “It had been kicking around for a while in a demo form and the bed track always felt like it had so much potential. When we wrote the backing tracks we were certainly feeling it had some punk/pop overtones, I think we were channeling late 80’s Brit pop vibrations and I came up with the lyric line ‘I Never Said I Love You’ again inspired by bands like The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Smiths and Ultravox, who all wrote about broken hearts on the dance floors around the world ..so I thought it was time to re-introduce that theme but with something that was more upbeat.
“When Maiah and I spoke about this she liked that lyrical hook and ran with it. The icing was Alex coming in and in the 11th hour adding the awesome middle section that sounds like pedal steel and the acoustic guitars in the chorus just elevate it to the next level. My initial thought lyrically was more of a -back off, I never said I love you. Kinda like, hey were just friends but I love how Maiah turned that into something much different.”
Curran says he and the band are thrilled with the initial reaction to the project, which was released on April 8.
“We've been working on and off with all these songs for over 4 years,” explains Curran, “so it’s extremely rewarding to finally finish them all and share them with the world. It’s like all these baby birds (our songs) leaving the nest and flying out into the sky …we have no idea where they will go or who else they will meet along the way - it’s exciting.
“People have been very kind and supportive online and maybe the most rewarding part is hearing die hard Rush fans say they love it. I wasn’t expecting that, same with fans of Coney and my other projects. This is nothing like what me, Alex or Maiah have ever done, so having people comment on social media in such a positive way has really been so cool to see.”
You can stream Envy Of None’s debut album in its entirety here.
See also:
Rush stream unreleased 1981 Toronto performance of Tom Sawyer
Rush: Alex Lifeson‘s Envy Of None stream debut album
Rush stream 1981 performance of Moving Pictures classic Limelight
Alex Lifeson archives auction to feature vintage guitars and Rush memorabilia
Search Rush at hennemusic
