Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul build their own wall of sound on their new song, “A World of Our Own,” set to appear on their forthcoming album, Summer of Sorcery, out May 3rd.
The track boasts a lush and expansive soundscape filled with orchestral flourishes — including a bit of harpsichord — and vocal harmonies that recall Phil Spector’s work with the Ronnettes, the Crystals and more.
In an interview with Billboard, where the track premiered, frontman Steven Van Zandt called “A World of Our Own” the “girl group entry of this album,” adding, “I always like to have one if I can. The Chiffons have always been very big to me, even the Shangri-La’s, going all the way back to the Shirelles. That’s just something that always has appealed to me, very much. I got back into it by producing Darlene Love’s album [2015’s Introducing Darlene Love] and really connecting directly back to that part of my influences that I grew up with but never really used.”
Summer of Sorcery marks the first album of all new material from Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul since 1999’s Born Again Savage. While the rocker’s long-dormant group released a new LP, Soulfire, in 2017, that album comprised covers and songs Van Zandt had written for other artists but never cut himself.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Van Zandt said Summer of Sorcery is loosely based around the concept of “going back and experiencing the first summer of consciousness, first time in love, first experiences in life and that thrill of unlimited possibilities.”
Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul will spend much of the summer touring the world in support of Summer of Sorcery. The band will play a pair of shows in Los Angeles and Asbury Park May 4th and 8th, respectively, before kicking off a proper North American tour July 2nd in Ontario, Canada.