The Shrine frontman Josh Landau launched his solo project Stolen Nova last month with his first single “Vortex” and “Clouds” is the follow up track.

The single cover features the Chain Reaction sculpture in Santa Monica, designed by Paul Conrad and built by Peter M. Carlson

“I can’t believe this sculpture is in Santa Monica. I went to High School across the street from it and it’s just so dark and intimidating. Santa Monica is so clean and sunny. Rumor is that it’s made from recycled guns. The doom of the sculpture fit the feeling and obviously the title of ‘Clouds,’ it’s an upbeat song musically but I was down when I wrote the lyrics. I remember I was on a long walk across town in Paris and it started raining. I was traveling alone and thought the trip I was on was gonna be quite different to how it turned out.” Says Landau

What’s your story as an artist?

Grew up on the Westside of Los Angeles, teenage punk guitarist obsessed with hendrix and sabbath and black flag, surfer, empty pool skateboarder….grew my hair real long and dove into 70’s hard rock and psychedelia…then cut my hair short and started looking at the future….

What inspired this last release?

Prince, Funkadelic, some punk, some disco, some bad nights out…

What are some sources of inspiration for your storytelling?

Simple raw emotions and literal details from romantic relationships…that’s pretty much it.

Any funny anecdotes from the time you were recording or writing the album?

Vortex started out more as a fast punk song…one day with Prince in mind it totally pivoted into what it became and that set the standard for something new for me and it became the Stolen Nova sound….after that Clouds came together quick I was feeling a Stones disco sort of thing with the groove and the bass.

Tell us about the music video and the idea behind?

Well Vortex had a very clear animated surreal direction, taking from the photos Nadia shot of me in the studio….Clouds is just natural, cruising around Venice and Santa Monica where I’m from…Super 8 footage shot by my friend Tony…I went to school across the street from the sculpture on the cover, the atom bomb of chains….someone told me it was made from recycled guns…it gives off such a cold scary feeling, I can’t believe its there in squeaky clean sunny Santa Monica, it’s so dark and intimidating.

What’s a record that shaped your creativity?

Hendrix Electric Ladyland…Frank Ocean’s Blonde

Who is an artist or band you look up to today?

Current stuff I love….Fontaines DC, Idles, Amyl and The Sniffers, Dijon last single Many Times I listened to like 30 times in a row…

Any future projects?

Bunch more Stolen Nova tracks!! Been in the studio on guitar with some people recently but can’t see who, but it was totally out of my zone. Working on a film score for this documentary about a counterculture TV station from the 70’s that got survillenced by the CIA. Always working on soundtracks to friends skate videos.

Top 3 dream collaborations?

Frank Ocean, Daft Punk, Bowie

What does music mean to you? 

Make or break your day, gives you an imaginary friend, reminds you things about yourself you forget or never realized. 

How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?

Electric velvet steamroller english breakfast….no seriously this is never an easy question….just have a listen….