Love By Numb3rs Share New Video for “Colours”

Photo: Love By Numb3rs by Cam Jones

Portland, Maine-based indie trio LOVE BY NUMB3RS share the video for “Colours,” the first single from their upcoming six-song EP COLOURS. Look for the EP to be released November 19, which will be followed by a full-length album (their second) in 2022. Watch the strikingly visual self-directed video, filmed at their house and studio (South Ranch.)

Love By Numb3rs gets sweet, creative, and soulful on their new song and video “Colours.” Vocalists Dan Connor and Anna Lombard combine talents with Lombard’s partner and multi-instrumentalist Jon Roods on the track to bring out a sound built on roots music that also contains bits of pop and R&B. Lombard’s voice is expressive, honest, and quickly pulls listeners into her world and emotional condition.

The track’s lyric video is vivid, entrancing, and practically experimental. The clip uses evocative imagery, bold hues, and artistically-enhanced humans to put across feelings of affection and uncertainty that will resonate with anyone who sees it. Love By Numb3rs is nothing like anything you’ve heard but are absolutely sketching the future of the music we love with shining stars like this. Check it out to see who’s up next.

Watch “Colours”

Coming off their recent single “Red Sun” this past June, “Colours” will be available at all streaming platforms this Friday, September 24. It is a deeply soulful song written about a mother and daughter’s difficult relationship from the band who freewheelingly chart a course through eloquent alternative, Americana and roots rock. The lyrics are naked and unflinching:

“I been living my life in colors

You made so me so blue then I’m seeing red

When the calm after the storm comes

And then gray is all that’s left”

“It’s definitely inspired by r&b/soul music of the sixties and early seventies,” says Anna Lombard, who wrote the song with bandmate Dan Connor. “It is real,” adds Anna. “It is emotive. It grooves and it builds all the way through the song until the abrupt radio silence after I scream the very last line.”

The track was produced by Anna and Jon Roods, who says: “The drums/beat were inspired by a traditional simple kick & snare feel…and then we built the instrumentation off of that after Anna finalized chords/arrangement in tandem with melody/lyrics.”

MORE QUOTES ABOUT THE “COLOURS” SONG + VIDEO

FROM ANNA LOMBARD

–Who wrote the song?

One afternoon Dan texted me a line that hit me kinda hard. The lyric Dan sent was, “I’ve been hearing you in colors” and it throttled us into this conversation (and my own nerdy research) about synesthesia (“synth” meaning “together” and “ethesia” meaning “perception). If you’re not familiar, it is a neurological phenomenon where the parts of your brain that control your senses are all intertwined. For example, a person with it can hear sound or music and their brain involuntarily associates those sounds with a specific color, pattern, or shape. And this condition can sometimes be a bit of sensory overload for those who have it (ahem, Jon.) But it also tends to inspire creativity. I became kind of obsessed with it. When you’re a kid, the first things you learn about are colors, the alphabet, numbers and shapes. So I started thinking about things like colors and shapes in a far less literal form. Humans tend to associate colors with emotions. Or a specific scent with an experience (good or bad). And how the environment in which a child is raised ultimately “shapes” them into the person they become…it is internal and we cannot control it….it just happens…much like the involuntary response someone with synesthesia has to music, sounds, colors, touch, patterns, taste, etc.

I stayed up til 4:30 in the morning with my notebook and a pencil and when I finished, I realized I wrote this song about my relationship with my mother. Family shit is hard, man. And I’ve got no illusions about the fact that I can be a pain in the ass. But it felt like this final plea, begging her to learn how to love me and to accept me for who I am….even if it wasn’t what she pictured.

When I sang the line, “You made me so blue and then I’m seeing red,” I quite literally could close my eyes and see the palest hues of blue…and the sadness was washed out by this storm of anger and all I could see was red. In the aftermath, among all the emotional debris and self-reflection, there was a moment of calm that made me feel empty. And all I could see was the color gray.

From the very moment I set my pencil down and finished writing, I felt this overwhelming sense of relief. The process and the creation of this song had released me. I was no longer immersed in a dense, emotional fog. And I came to the realization that what started as a song for her, became a song for me… Because our children cannot be our mirror images. So…you gotta learn how to let go of your ego–and I don’t mean ego as in self-importance–I mean the part of the ego acting as the voices in your head. The ones which stem from your inner child and your own fears. Because when you let go of that ego, you begin to learn how to be whole… to be seen… to be heard. To be accepted. And ultimately, capable of being loved and loving unconditionally… because deep down, isn’t that what all of us ever really want, anyway?

–Who directed the video, where was it filmed, and some thoughts about the video?

We focused a lot on the vibrance of colors, lighting, shapes–to tie into the meaning of the song. I bought a silicone heart prop and Jon insisted I follow George Romero’s recipe for fake blood to depict the proverbial ripping out of my heart. We built a set in our kitchen out of sound foam panels. I bought fabric and cut them into shapes inspired by and as a way of paying homage to the stage backdrop from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival after we checked out Quest Love-directed documentary “Summer of Soul”– that shit is bonkers if you haven’t checked it out. Grab some tissues while you’re at it. For our final set for the video, Jon and I turned our garage into what looked like a cross between one of the clear plastic encased murder scene from the show Dexter and a dope art studio in SOHO. I splattered buckets of paint and spray painted the plastic walls. No matter how many times we’ve showered since, we can’t get the paint off parts of our feet. But in all, Jon and I really just focused on creating a visual that would stimulate the viewers senses using colors, shapes, textures, angles, lighting, our vintage gear, etc. I should note that the pattern of multicolored foam sound panels as the mural against our dining room wall isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Adhesive spray is a thing, huh?

COLOURS EP track listing