Pitchfork

Now that we've had some time to let the polite disbandment of polite rock favorites Luna wash over-- and now that the last few hangers-on are finally coming to terms with a life in a Luna-less world-- the beloved band's Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips have reemerged with some new musical offerings.

Come February 27 the pair will deliver its second full-length set of honey-sweet duo work, following up 2003's L'Avventura and the recent Words You Used to Say EP, under the revised moniker Dean & Britta. Zoë/Rounder have signed on to share Dean & Britta's Back Numbers, an 11-song, Tony Visconti-produced (David Bowie, Morrissey) affair mixing originals and some eclectic covers-- including Donovan's "Teen Angel" and Lee Hazlewood's "You Turned My Head Around". As Wareham told Pitchfork in a recent interview, the adjusted band name boils down to simple record-shopping practicality.

"For the last record," explained Dean, "it was Britta Phillips and Dean Wareham. The main problem we ran into with that [is] it was difficult to alphabetize that and our last record got put under 'Phillips', so people who were going to look for the record just didn't know where to look." And the order of names? "I think 'Dean & Britta' rolls off the tongue better."

Fair enough-- although not everybody's feeling it. "My son [Jack] said it's the worst band name ever.

"He's seven," said Wareham with a laugh. "What does he know?"

While L'Avventura came about essentially as a side project during Luna's tenure, and Back Numbers, in contrast, is a full-on, post-Luna primary project, as Dean assured, "I don't think that changes the way that we approach making a record."

One thing L'Avventura had that Back Numbers won't, however, is real strings. "It's kind of a question of what the song calls for. It didn't seem like there were any songs on this that were crying out for us to bring in a string quartet."

Part of this extends from a warm, carefree intimacy that permeates much of the new album, something Wareham attributes to the fact that much of it was initially recorded at home.

A key example: hushed, glitchy opener "Singer Sing", which, reported Wareham, "was the last thing we finished. And it was something we were creeping around with at home, and at the last moment we wrote some lyrics."

Wareham told us he still keeps up with his former Luna bandmates, although "I haven't seen [guitarist] Sean [Eden] in quite a long time, which is strange after seeing each other every week for, like, 12 years. And he only lives about a block away from me, too."

Turns out Eden's kept quite busy of late, recording as part of the Weeds of Eden, playing live and on record with New York's Elk City, and lending his talents to a bunch of NY acts, including Ambulance LTD and Kramer. Eden set up a MySpace page a few months back, where the curious may stream his wares.

Meanwhile, said Wareham, "Lee [Wall], our drummer, has moved to Los Angeles. He's working on music for a TV show.

"Everybody in Luna, we all still speak to each other. Nobody hates anybody."

While it's much too soon to talk Luna reunions, what about the act that first put Wareham on the map, influential slow-fuzz-rockers Galaxie 500? "We haven't discussed that," Dean recounted plainly. "I guess one reason is money, and if I'm being honest, that's probably the best reason."

But if the price were right? "Well, I guess if the price was right, yeah."

"It's strange to me," Dean continued. "I guess some reunions work, and some don't. Because I think if you take a band from 1981 and you plop them down 20 years later-- even if they play the songs the same way-- everything has changed around them, so it doesn't have the same significance."

However, he was quick to add, "Maybe other layers of meaning can come to the fore." While we ponder those layers and plan Galaxie 500 reunion fund-raisiers, you can rest assured that Dean & Britta will tour the land following the release of Back Numbers, worst band name ever notwithstanding.

Oh, and if you hear a familiar voice while surfing late night television some random night, it might just be Britta Phillips. Once the voice of cartoon rocker Jem, she's now bringing the character "Bloberta" to life on the cynical Cartoon Network Adult Swim series "Moral Orel".

Back Numbers:

01 Singer Sing
02 Words You Used to Say
03 Wait for Me
04 You Turn My Head Around
05 Teen Angel
06 White Horses
07 Me & My Babies
08 Say Goodnight
09 Crystal Blue
10 The Sun Is Still Sunny
11 Our Love Will Still Be There

[photo by Michael Lavine]