THE LAST HURRAH (!!) | Dusty Road single artwork
THE LAST HURRAH (!!)
DUSTY ROAD new single
out 06.10.23
(TBC Records) digital services included on the album
MODERN NOSTALGIA
out 27.10.23 pre-order/save/add ‘Dusty Road’ is the third single to be lifted from ‘Modern Nostalgia’, the upcoming new album by The Last Hurrah (!!). Akin to a mini road-movie in song, it sees band founder and leader HP Gundersen again leading a superb group of musicians, while it is sung by musician/actor Foster Timms and also features the pedal steel guitar playing of Marty Rifkin. HP explains the background of the song as follows: “’I wrote it with Leslie Ahern (lyrics) several years ago and have always been fond of it. It’s like a little film. I always imagined that a man would have to sing it, as it was inspired by artists like Gene Clark, Gram Parsons, Leon Russell, Lowell George, Tom Waits…soulful, musical poets accustomed to being out on a winter’s night. I was producing a record in Los Angeles last winter and took part in a jam session one evening. Foster Timms suddenly appeared, resembling a younger Tom Waits, singing and playing a few songs that completely blew me away. He sang from the heart; honestly, intensely and effortlessly, with a phenomenal flair for storytelling. I invited him to the studio the next day to perform a duet on the album I was involved with, then couldn’t help but ask if he wanted to sing ‘Dusty Road’. He said he would if he was really feeling it, as he had only previously sung his own songs. Fortunately, he told me he loved it and deep-dived wholeheartedly into the song and sang it as if it belonged to him. It was absolutely perfect.” ‘Modern Nostalgia’ is the fifth album by The Last Hurrah (!!) and a perfect title for the group’s ongoing evolution, showcasing the musical roots and inspiration of HP and his current chosen cohorts. Where the first two albums were widely acclaimed drone-tuned, meditative journeys, the next two were more traditional song-based affairs that incorporated cosmic Americana, country and jazz. ‘Modern Nostalgia’ can be seen in part as a subtle combination of both approaches. 
THE LAST HURRAH (!!) | Modern Nostalgia album artwork
MODERN NOSTALGIA
TRACKLISTING
1 Civilized Wilderness
2 Bonnie Michelle
3 Time Heals Wounds
4 L’albatross
5 Do Believe
6 Modern Nostalgia
7 Paradise
8 Dusty Road
9 Internet Troll
10 Healing ‘Modern Nostalgia’ takes listeners on a loving yet original Transatlantic journey, with European echoes of Serge Gainsbourg, John Barry and Marianne Faithfull rubbing shoulders with the heart of Laurel Canyon and the equally inspirational likes of Gram Parsons, Gene Clark and The Byrds. With a career that stretches back to 1973, The Last Hurrah (!!) has been HP’s main activity since 2020, when the start of the pandemic saw him leave the city of Bergen and move to a former fishing village in west Norway with his pianist wife Cecilie Leganger. Setting up a studio in their basement, a new era began when, despite the cessation of normal social activity, a close circle of musician friends who suddenly had a lot of free time on their hands visited frequently to jam and write songs. Energised by their idyllic new location and the unique situation they found themselves in, HP and Leganger, plus Rifkin, Nora Yuyue Zheng (guzheng), Stein Inge Brækhus (drums), Andreas Nausdal (bass) and Mari Persen (violin) created new music primarily influenced by a shared nostalgia for 1960s French pop, film music, baroque pop and psychedelic folk. HP’s handpicked choice of singers include compatriot Maria Due on several tracks, plus Americans Tim Scott McConnell (aka Ledfoot) and Shane Alexander, as well as Timms. THE LAST HURRAH (!!)
PREVIOUS UK REVIEWS
“Raga, hoedowns, California-breezy folk and Appalachian thrumming on an altogether beguiling and irresistibly trippy trip ****”
MOJO
“A masterclass in cosmic country-folk at its best on an epic centrepiece of cantering acoustic picking, psychedelic reveries, bolts of bouzouki and mournful trumpet. Compulsive listening all around”
PROG
“Sound like folk-blues monk John Fahey jamming with a Van Dyke Parks orchestra, or Fleet Foxes suddenly sprouting massive Scandinavian meatball cojones”
SUNDAY TIMES
“File under the vibrant sub genre that is West Coast Norwegian folk psych”
SHINDIG!
“Wonderful country-folk plus a 30 minute sordid saga that takes so many twists and turns it could be half-a-dozen songs all wrapped up in one lengthy but enthralling track ****”
MAVERICK
“Maddeningly well executed. The Last Hurrah!! have seduced me – the bastards!”
WIRE 
THE LAST HURRAH (!!) | HP Gundersen 2023 photo
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