Marc and Sharon Costanzo, also known as Len, the Toronto siblings that stole our sunshine in 1999, never to be seen again, are back with a new album.
Yes, really.
It's Easy If You Try was released Oct. 16 on EMI, the first single for which, “It’s My Neighbourhood” (above), was written much in the same vein as “Steal My Sunshine.”
The music is unapologetic bubble gum pop, the lyrics, simple and easy to remember for even the most ADHD eight-year-old (“It’s where we get the jam-jam, rock out with the fam-fam, light up our nights, with a little bit of bam-bam.”), and the response it has gained varies between mockery and contempt.
But here’s the thing: Len doesn’t care what you think about Len.
“When I write a song, I’m taking a chance and not really caring if people think I’m cool,” Marc Costanzo, who admits that he’s “not scared to use kids’ records to help write songs,” said over the phone back in the summer when finishing touches were being put on the album.
“There are too many people that won’t let music get into them and affect them. They’re too busy trying to find something that will represent them, something that will identify with their style,” he said, adding that the idea for a new record wasn’t even his.
“EMI Records has been pushing for a new record, which I don’t get because, on the business side, we're pretty much pinned as one hit wonders,” he said.
Costanzo describes the album as being “all about the summer vibe; everybody letting loose and having fun and not worrying about how they will be perceived,” and has no misconceptions about it being anything more than that.
“If you listen to it with a couple of shots of vodka in you and no one's looking, maybe you will actually have some fun,” he said.
Let us know what you think in the comments below. Are a couple of shots of vodka enough to get you to enjoy Len’s “It’s My Neighbourhood?”
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