Photo credit: Alexa King

When The Whigs eased up a bit on touring and recording in 2017, lead singer/guitarist Parker Gispert opted to take some time to explore new musical textures. The results can be heard on his debut solo album, Sunlight Tonight, which was produced by Emery Dobyns (Patti Smith, Antony and The Johnsons).  Rather than the raw and raucous garage rock of The Whigs, the eight songs on Sunlight Tonight are more meditative, with Gispert focusing on acoustic guitar expressions.

Today we premiere the official video for “Too Dumb To Love Anyone” from the new record. Gispert tells Relix that this song “is the only song on Sunlight Tonight I had written with The Whigs in mind and it was originally more of a punk rock Ramones thing.  Sol Seppy from Sparklehorse sings it with me and Patrick Carney (Black Keys) and Sam Dixon (Adele) are the rhythm section.  The song is about being single and having friends suggest that you ‘meet someone’ as if the only thing standing in between you and a great relationship is that you’re too dumb to think of it for yourself.

“I shot the video in Portland, Oregon with Director Mike Egan and a local crew.  Half the video is me floating in a sensory deprivation tank which I’d never done.  Mike suggested I float in the tank the day before our shoot to become comfortable with the experience before being on camera.  I really liked it and plan on finding a tank in Nashville for future floats.

“When I first started playing solo, I’d play different versions of Whigs songs at my shows.  As I wrote the songs for “Sunlight Tonight”, I’d slowly replace the Whigs songs with my solo material.  ‘Too Dumb To Love Anyone’ was originally intended for the Whigs so I was already playing it in those sets consisting solely of Whigs songs.  It’s the only song that carried over from my early solo shows to where I am now.”

Sunlight Tonight is now available for pre-order on vinyl or CD. Gispert will tour in support of the record over the months to follow.