It’s funny to think of Sean Lennon in an episode of the 1960s sitcom “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” But that’s just how he described recording “Acoustic Sessions,” a debut album he has released with his girlfriend, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, under the moniker the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger.
“We perform the whole album with a Dick Van Dyke approach,” he said. “I play guitar while keeping time on a tambourine with my foot, plus occasionally hitting a cymbal in between strums as Charlotte plays accordion, banjo, melodica, acoustic bass, glockenspiel and shakers. It’s quite funny to see, because the whole juggling act could fall apart at any moment.”
But Lennon, the only child of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, seems to be unduly modest about the album the duo made in their New York City home. The album has won high praise from music critics, especially for the duo’s harmonies.
| IF YOU GO |
| The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger |
| » When: 8:30 p.m. Tuesday |
| » Where: Iota, 2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington |
| » Details: $15; 703-522-8340; iotaclubandcafe.com |
As you might expect, the music also draws comparisons between Sean’s voice and that of his father.
“It’s futile of me to hope for otherwise. The ever-looming shadow is something I just have to accept. But vocals are something we struggle with, and I look to my father as a great vocalist, so I’m flattered by comparisons I guess.”
The couple began dating after meeting at the Coachella music festival and started to work on music together about a year later. The way they write is “very collaborative, bouncing chords and words around with me on guitar and Charlotte on piano,” Lennon said.
The duo also will take other writings and work them into music, such as when Sean takes a poem Charlotte has written and writes a melody for it. Then Charlotte may write a chorus.
“We’ll keep whittling away together,” Sean said. “[It’s almost] like building a pyramid from the top down.”
