Last year, Alex Orange Drink guested on the latest Bright Eyes album Five Dice, All Threes. Now, Conor Oberst is returning the favor by appearing on "Queen Victoria," the lead single of the So So Glos' frontman's new LP Victory Lap (#23).
Alex Orange Drink — whose real name is Alex Zarou Levine — recorded Victory Lap (#23) during intensive treatment for a rare and serious cancer. He explains:
“Queen Victoria" is about the symbolic death of the pre-smartphone world. Trying to get through to someone who’s got their ‘cell’ out. It’s about walking a dangerous path toward self destruction. My grandmother who died by suicide in 1970 appears on the single artwork, and Conor Oberst is featured on the song.
Before I got sick, I spent the winter of 2023 with Conor in LA. During those three months we wrote a lot of songs together — some of which were released on the newest Bright Eyes album Five Dice, All Threes. One night, I played him this track and he loved it. Together, we worked on a second verse for him to sing. When I got home from LA, around spring, I decided to deal with a persisting discomfort in my face that I could no longer ignore. I went to various doctors in order to get to the root of what I thought was a dental issue. One month later, I collapsed after a bike ride in Prospect Park. Two weeks later, the So So Glos played Bowery Ballroom. The show was sandwiched between two surgeries. The second of which, the biopsy, revealed a large T4 cancerous tumor. Adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare form of cancer. The waiting game began. During this time Conor would call me regularly, and this song would play in my head.
The video features found footage of my family’s home movies. Grandparents in Brooklyn in the ‘40s, my dad at the reopening of Ebinger's Bakery in the ‘70s, old New York streets, American flags & hula hoops. Some nostalgic channel surfing — an empire passing by.
He adds about the LP artwork:
I had an idea to use a photo of my radiation mask which was worn during my treatment for the album cover. It was strapped around me and to a table — firmly pressed to my face as I went through extremely claustrophobic sessions that lasted up to an hour a day. Gag in the mouth, the closest thing to torture I've ever experienced but it also saved my damn life. If it wasn't for the music that was playing in the room, I don't think I would have made it through. To me it represents the album and mirrors the times.
Watch the "Queen Victoria" music video below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Victory Lap"
02 "Queen Victoria" (Feat. Conor Oberst)
03 "The Future’s A Riot"
04 "Everything Is Broken"
05 "27 Club"
06 "My Year In A Plastic Bag"
07 "Super Dilla Cancer Killah" (Feat. Sadhis Rivas)
08 "Looking Up"
09 "These Days Are Just Like The Good Old Days"
10 "Don’t Look Down (On The Harlem River Drive To MSK)"
Victory Lap (#23) out 5/9 via Conor Oberst’s Million Stars. Pre-order it here. Alex Orange Drink will perform at the Fighting Through Cancer Benefit at Connolly’s Klub 45 in Times Square on Feb. 16. Find ticket information here.
