Son Volts Jay Farrar and Death Cab for Cuties Benjamin Gibbard will collaborate on a new album. One Fast Move or Im Gone: Kerouacs Big Sur features 12 original songs composed and performed by the musicians, with lyrics based on the prose of Jack Kerouacs landmark 1962 novel Big Sur. The album will be released on October 20 via F-Stop/Atlantic Records along with a feature-length documentary of the same title. Despite having never met before the project, Gibbard and Farrar discovered a mutual love of Kerouacs work while recording several songs for the documentary, produced by Kerouac Films. According to a statement, After the initial San Francisco recording session in July 2007, they decided to develop the project further to create an album using Kerouacs own words from the book as the lyrics. Big Sur is an evocative account of a time in Jacks life when hed come undone, both emotionally and spiritually. He escapes to a cabin in Big Sur to confront his inner demons and find a modicum of peace by the sea.
Gibbard is said to have stayed in the original cabin Kerouac wrote about to compose songs for his bands 2008 Grammy-nominated album, Narrow Stairs. For many years, Jay Farrars songwriting has been inspired and influenced by Kerouacs compositional style. The album and film will be released on October 20, the day before the 40th anniversary of Kerouacs death.