Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson is set to return to music with a new project called Envy of None.
The band — a collaboration between Lifeson, bassist Andy Curran, singer-songwriter Maiah Wynne, and producer Alfio Annibalini — have also shared their first single, “Liar,” ahead of the April 8 release of their self-titled debut LP.
While Lifeson had been working on the music over the past few years since the end of Rush, he credits the addition of Wynne for giving voice to the side project.
“Maiah became my muse,” Lifeson said in a statement. “She was able to bring this whole new ethereal thing through her sense of melody on tracks like ‘Liar’ and ‘Look Inside’… I’ve never had that kind of inspiration working with another musician. When we say she’s special, it’s because she’s really fucking special!”
The album boasts a pair of songs — “Kabul Blues” and “Spy House” — that Lifeson previously released as instrumentals this past summer, tracks that marked his first new music in nearly a decade. Envy of None also closes out with “Western Sunset,” a track that Lifeson penned as a tribute to his late Rush bandmate Neil Peart.
“I visited Neil when he was ill,” Lifeson said. “I was on his balcony watching the sunset and found inspiration. There’s a finality about a sunset that kinda stayed with me throughout the whole process. It had meaning. It was the perfect mood to decompress after all these different textures… a nice way to close the book.”
Envy of None is available to preorder.
From Rolling Stone US
