For someone with as famous a last name as his, Sean Lennon has managed to fly pretty much under the radar throughout his music career — not that it was ever his intention to do so.
“I’m not trying to hide from the world,” he says. “I think I’m just too weird for people [laughs].”
What Lennon may interpret as “weird” others have described as versatile. In addition to fronting his own psych-pop outfit The Goastt, the 40-year old multi-instrumentalist recently recorded a collaboration with Les Claypool of Primus (as The Claypool Lennon Delirium) and is responsible for the score of the new horror film “Ava’s Possessions,” opening Friday at Cinema Village 12th Street.
amNewYork chatted with Lennon about his busy plate of projects.
How did you get involved with “Ava’s Possessions”?
[Director] Jordan Galland is one of my oldest and closest friends and we’ve been collaborating since we were very young. So when he started directing, he asked me to do the music. I did his first and second films and his now third film, “Ava’s Possessions.”
What has the reaction to the film been thus far?
It’s very hard to tell with screenings in general. Obviously, the screenings have gone really great, but I’m too much of a novice in the film world to discern anything from that. It’s like that with music too. I’ve never played a record for my friends and they’re like, “You shouldn’t put this out.” It’s usually, “This sounds great, man,” and still I put it out and nothing happens [laughs]. It’s hard to discern the relationship between people’s initial reaction to a project and how it’s going to do.
Do you care about mass appeal? Are you looking for more commercial success with your music?
I know that I’m strange, and I’ve certainly never tried to make a techno record or cater to any idea of mainstream, but I don’t think there’s any reason to make art than to imagine some kind of audience for it. I wouldn’t believe any artist that denied that.
The first single with your collaboration with Les Claypool, “Cricket and Genie,” was just released. What are the plans for The Claypool Lennon Delirium?
We have a whole record coming out. That song, I don’t know to what degree that represents the whole album, but I’m really happy with it.
