Actor-composer Nick Blaemire is a busy guy, but his latest track off of The Ampsersand EP has immediately put us in the swingin', easy-breezy summer mood we've been craving. As previously announced, Blaemire, who recently appeared off-Broadway in Keen Company's revival of Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick...BOOM!, will bring his own musical, A Little More Alive, to the big screen. One of the songs from the musical, "Trees," is the lucky seventh track to be released from Blaemire's EP, and Broadway.com has got the exclusive premiere (and this tune on repeat).
Blaemire's bud Jo Lampert, a brand-new Lortel Award nominee for the Public Theater's musical Joan of Arc: Into the Fire, offered her velvety smooth vocals to the track. The two met performing in the Williamstown production of the Jeff Buckley/Shakespeare fusion musical The Last Goodbye back in 2010.
"I wrote this song for the eleven-o'clock slot in A Little More Alive, and realized that it might also be able to stand on its own as a pop song," Blaemire told Broadway.com. "When I started working on my new EP, I dreamed up a new arrangement for the tune, and there was no one in the universe I wanted to hear sing it more than Jo. Her musical instincts are otherworldly. She flew out to Chicago while I was working on Spongebob, and we spent a weekend recording. It was a total joy, and she absolutely crushed it."
The ease of the collaboration shows in the track; like the rest of Blaemire's Ampersand EP, it spans genres, from jazz to rock to pop while still coming through with its own distinct sound.
"It was so awesome that Nick encouraged me to put my own personal vibe into this," Lampert told Broadway.com. "And then there's harmonizing with him—one of my favorite things to do in music."
A Little More Alive is scheduled to begin filming this summer. In the meantime, hear Blaemire's get-stuck-in-your-head-good EP here and "Trees" below!