Wiki
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Release Date
7 April 2022
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Length
14 tracks
five seconds flat is the second studio album released by indie-alternative artist and Philadelphia-native Lizzy McAlpine. The album released on April 8, 2022. She released the tracklist on Twitter following her feature on "The Zane Lowe Show." Along with her three pre-released singles, the album has a variety of featured collaborations, including one with Grammy nominee for the coveted Best New Artist FINNEAS.
Another featured artist is Ben Kessler, who also hails from the Philadelphia suburbs and spent most of his formative years performing at World Café Live and in-studio at WXPN. A common collaborator with McAlpine, they previously released "I Think I" in September 2021. Other collaborators include fellow TikTok star Jacob Collier with the pre-released single "erase me," and New York-based singer Laura Elliot.
Lizzy McAlpine had a clear vision for five seconds flat, her second album: she wrote a 14-song story arc about heartbreak, and then made a short film to accompany it.
"All the projects I have put out have been about chapters of my life," McAlpine told Clash Magazine in September. "I would describe it as young and naïve because I know so many more things about life now."
By any measure, five seconds flat is a bigger album. Indie rock was McAlpine’s starting point, but these 14 new songs aren’t so easy to pigeonhole: along with guitar, bass, drums and piano, there are assertive electronic elements, horns and strings. The musical arrangements are bold and immersive: “erase me” starts with sharp acoustic guitar and quiet vocals from McAlpine, then adds layers of drums, percussion and backing vocals before an insistent synth loop comes sweeping through in the second half of the song. First single “doomsday” has a chamber-pop feel, with a rich blend of programmed strings, brass and percussion that swirls around McAlpine’s assured voice.
After writing most of Give Me A Minute herself and working with producer and multi-instrumentalist Philip Etherington, her Berklee College of Music classmate, McAlpine opened herself to greater collaboration on five seconds flat. Etherington returned to produce, joined on ten tracks by Ehren Ebbage. There are also four featured vocalists, including the Grammy winners FINNEAS on “hate to be lame” and Jacob Collier on “erase me.”
“They have their own sounds and then combining them with what I’m doing on this album just fits so perfectly,” McAlpine says.
Music isn’t the only area where McAlpine is trying something new: she tapped into her love of screenwriting and acting with the short film that goes with five seconds flat. The idea for a film came while McAlpine was writing songs for the new album, which traces heartbreak in a cause-and-effect kind of way. As a songwriter with a penchant for evocative lyrics full of details, McAlpine had such a vivid picture in her mind of how the songs would translate to film that she came up with a full concept that she illustrated with a digital slide show that served as storyboards.
“It’s basically about seeing patterns in relationships: getting your heart broken and then, because of that, breaking someone else’s heart,” she says.
Written by McAlpine and directed by Gus Black (Phoebe Bridgers, Sheryl Crow), the film consists of music videos for five of the songs on the album, connected through non-music scenes that let McAlpine flex her acting chops — a fulfilling pursuit for someone who considered studying acting in college before choosing Berklee and music.
“I got to put all of my passions into one project,” she says. “I haven’t really done anything like this before, and I want to make acting a large part of my career in the future. So, this feels like a jumping-off point.”
Not only that, five seconds flat feels like an artist stepping into her own, building on her past while looking toward the future. “We’re taking everything to the next level with this album,” McAlpine says. “I’m moving in the right direction, and it’s really exciting.”
Music and Lyrics by Elizabeth McAlpine
Performed by Elizabeth McAlpine
Produced by Philip Etherington, Ehren Ebbage
Mixed by Philip Etherington
Mastered by Dave Kutch
Design by Rob Shuttleworth
Cover Photo by Gus Black
Additional photos by Gus Black, Caity Krone,
Track 3 co-written with Jacob Collier and Jordan Rakei, additional production from Jacob Collier
Track 6 co-written with Ben Kessler and Philip Etherington
Track 7 co-written with Martin Luke Brown and Laura Elliott
Track 11 co-written with and additional production from Finneas O’Connell
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