LA Choir Enlists Aussie Musos To Work On Debut Album

Ben Lee

You may not have heard of LA-based The Silver Lake Chorus, but a bunch of all-star songwriters certainly have, thanks to Australia's very own Ben Lee.

The 25-piece choir have enlisted the acclaimed singer/songwriter to sign his name as the album's executive producer, who first heard the group singing a cover of Beck's Lonesome Tears.

As Lee tells Six Degrees Records, he got the idea to pitch that the choir take a completely new indie rock approach, with a slew of writers penning songs specifically for the album.

"Most people would think they can’t approach Beck or Tegan and Sara, but as a songwriter, it’s such an honour to have your song sung by someone else, especially twenty people with great voices. So I just started putting it out there,” Lee says.

Sia is the only Aussie in an extremely impressive list of songwriters which includes Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Tegan And Sara, The Flaming Lips, The New Pornographers and Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard to write for the choir's upcoming debut self-titled album.

You can check out the ethereal first taste of the group's album here with Heavy Star Movin', written by Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips.