‘Viroqua’ by Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble | New Album, ‘Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble II’
Exclusive video premiere of ‘Viroqua’ by Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble, taken from the upcoming album, ‘Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble II’, out September 30th, 2022 via Tompkins Square.
If there was a silver lining to the cloud of uncertainty that was life during the early days of the pandemic, it was that all of the isolation provided a clear break from the entrenched routines of day to day life.
This respite allowed me to see in sharp contrast all of the things that were important in my life, and all of the things that were trivial, and thus expendable. It was during this time that I began to write in earnest for this second Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble record.
Over the course of a year, I would bring my new compositions to my collaborators (Jason Toth and Joel Styzens), and usually after a very limited number of rehearsals we would enter the studio at the Fine Arts Building in Chicago and record the songs on an old Tascam ½” tape machine. There were four such studio sessions, in which all recorded material was culled down to these 9 songs. We recorded the material with a strong improvisational approach, and a couple of these songs are essentially first takes. I am very proud of the material on this album, and the energy we captured in the studio. I am glad to partner with Tompkins Square in sharing this album with the world.
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