Americana Highways pulled over out in California to chat with Sir Canyon’s Noah Lamberth, filmmaker and occasional pedal steel player for Katy Perry, about his upcoming release, Ventura Skies, produced by Andy Davis and due to be released March 2nd.
When asked about the project, Lambert responded, “Ventura Skies is all about connotations of the west. Whether we consider it as a cultural state of mind, or as a physical state, it’s wide open and cinematic. This album is an attempt to echo everything I love about the west: mariachi trumpets, pedal steel guitar, baritone reverb guitars, lush background vocals, it’s upbeat and vibey! I’m hoping the listener is actively seeing and experiencing being in the west.”
When urged to tell us about his favorite song on the album, he said, “It would have to be “Angeleno Daydream.” The lyrics: “so hold me close, darling, or set me free” are really about Los Angeles. People have talked about Los Angeles as a mythological place for years but until one has spent time living there it’s hard to get a sense of how “dreamy” the place really is. It’s like living in a bubble where the most beautiful, talented, creative and wealthy people in the world all descend to strike it rich in some profession. Some never want to leave and others can’t get out fast enough but it keeps luring people again, hoping for fame, fortune or a sense of identity. Los Angeles can be a dream, both good and bad, and that’s what this song is about.”
“I used to live on a street called Angeleno in L.A.; it was up on a hill and I could look out on where I used to live across the valley. The view felt like a dream with all the memories in that scene. We wrote the song at that house on Angeleno. The song was also musically inspired by Neil Young. I wanted to write a Neil Young-esque song with those big wide open baritone guitars and some melodic pedal steel guitar, like the beginning of a Western movie.”