Hell or Highwater Release Date May 12 Pre-Order Now - David Duchovny talks about his debut album

David Duchovny released his first novel in February. He's got a new NBC TV series, called Aquarius, debuting in May, and Fox is reviving his '90s hit The X Files for a six-episode run. About the only thing Duchovny doesn't have in the works is an album.

Oh, wait. He does.

On May 12, Duchovny will release his first album, Hell or Highwater, on ThinkSay Records. The album contains 12 songs written by Duchovny. He's backed by a group of musicians who perform separately under the name Weather and give his songs a '90s-rock feel in the vein of The Wallflowers and the Gin Blossoms.

The cover of David Duchovny's album "Hell or Highwater," due May 12. (Photo: ThinkSay Records)

Duchovny says he began playing guitar several years ago: "I bought an expensive guitar, because I knew I was too cheap to not play it." After a while, he began sitting in with Los Angeles singer-songwriter Keaton Simons and writing his own songs.

The album's title track and first single is a love song that harbors no romantic illusions, with Duchovny singing, "I said I'd love you forever, come hell or high water/Baby, the flood's in." It is currently available for digital download.

Pre-Order Now: Hell Or Highwater on Amazon

The final song, Positively Madison Avenue, was inspired by seeing Bob Dylan's commercial for Chrysler that premiered during the Super Bowl. The song plays like a direct message to Dylan — at one point, Duchovny sings, "Only you could write the song that could get to you" — but Duchovny says he used his feelings about Dylan as a symbol of integrity and truth-telling as a starting point to grapple with his own issues about commercialism and selling out.

"My nightmare would be that Bob hears the song and is insulted and cares to respond," he says. "Because I lose."

Duchovny plans to make some live appearances with the band but hasn't gone so far as to book a tour.

"I'm lucky enough to be able to book some really great TV spots and get exposure that a normal new artist, which is what I guess I am in this field, wouldn't be able to get," he says.

"I'm learning what it's like to sing with a live band, how close to be to the mic, learning about singing, period," he says. "It's a journey of discovery for me. I hope that I get to discover certain things before the audience does, so it's not too painful."

The new run of X Files episodes will begin shooting in June in Vancouver, Duchovny says, so he'll have about a month after the album's release to play any shows, if there's a demand for them. He says he knows nothing about the story arc for the miniseries. "All I know is I've been trying to make (series creator) Chris Carter use my music," he said. "I never could do that before."

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