Is it a novel? Is it a record? "It's both," says singer-songwriter, Morty Shallman, whose new CD, "Love's Oblivion " A Novel in Twelve Pop Songs" is now available on-line at www.morty.org, and at all major web retailers including Amazon.com, CDbaby, and itunes.com. 

"I've always taken a strong narrative approach to my songwriting," says Shallman, an Illinois native, who currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California. "Treating each song as a chapter in a larger story, with characters, a plot, and emotional twists and turns, is simply the next logical progression in my work. After all, we've had rock operas, and concept albums for years. Why not a pop novel?" 

After graduating from college at the University of Chicago, and performing both as a solo artist  under the pseudonym, "Andrew Ashbury"  and as lead singer for modern rockers, "Minds of Babes," Shallman moved to Los Angeles several years ago to pursue his solo career. Since then, he has performed at top local venues such as the House of Blues and The Gig/Hollywood, and recorded with the cream of the crop of local musicians. Players on "Love's Oblivion" include Ben Peeler of The Wallflowers, Scott Bennett of the Brian Wilson Band, and Todd Sucherman of Styx. Shallman's unique brand of melodic, hook-filled, modern pop rock has been praised by the Chicago Sun-Times as "buoyant, infectious and car radio ready." 

The novelistic theme of "Love's Oblivion" is carried on in the record's package design, which was inspired by "pulp fiction" novels, complete with edgy cover imagery, a jacket "blurb" setting up the plot, and an "author's photo" of the artist, in contrast to the typical rock and roll performance shots found on most rock CD's. Inside, each song's lyrics are presented as individual chapters in the twelve page color booklet that accompanies the CD. While the precise plot details of "Love's Oblivion" are open to interpretation, suffice it say, there's no typical "Hollywood Ending" to this modern love story. "No, it's much darker than that," says Shallman. "more of a "North Hollywood Ending."