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Oct 06, 2021 By Mark Redfern Photography by Britta Phillips

Dean Wareham (of Luna, Galaxie 500, and Dean & Britta) is releasing a new solo album, I Have Nothing to Say to the Mayor of L.A., on October 15 via Double Feature. Now he has shared its third single, “As Much As It Was Worth,” via a video. Judith Berndsen directed the video, which features Wareham’s wife and musical partner Britta Phillips, who also sings backing vocals on the song and edited the video. Watch it below.

Wareham had this to say about the new single in a press release: “The song is about youth and the loss of someone you loved. I wrote it after reading an essay by Zadie Smith, about joy and suffering, but one line stuck with me, it was something Julian Barnes said to her about the death of his wife: ‘it hurts, just as much as it was worth.’”

Previously Wareham shared the album’s first single, “The Past Is Our Plaything,” via a video for it. “The Past Is Our Plaything” was one of our Songs of the Week. Then Wareham shared a video for the album’s second single, “Cashing In,” in which he sings “I’m not selling out/I’m cashing in.” “Cashing In” was also one of our Songs of the Week.

Wareham’s last solo album was 2014’s Dean Wareham but since then he’s kept busy, including doing the soundtrack for Mistress America with his wife, Britta Phillips, and reuniting and touring with Luna.

“The hard thing is just to start,” Wareham says of the gap between solo albums. “When I sat down and did it, the songs came pretty quickly.”

Papercuts’ Jason Quever produced and played on the album, which also features Phillips on bass, vocals, and keys, and Roger Brogan on drums.

In terms of the album’s title, I Have Nothing to Say to the Mayor of L.A., and what he would say if he actually met the mayor of Los Angeles, where Wareham and Phillips have been based since 2013, Wareham responds: “It’s gonna happen. But the answer is right there too—I have nothing to say.”

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