I'm pleased to announce that our new single, a song for and about civil rights and labor activist Cesar Chavez, is streaming on Austin Town Hall. Check it out and get pumped for our album release and release show this Friday! If you're not in Philly, let's meet on our ongoing, piecemeal tour. (Thanks to everyone who has hosted us or otherwise made us feel at home these past few weeks.) -Eric
Release show: Ticket Link | Facebook Event
I’m pleased to announce that PopMatters is streaming “Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin,” the first single from our forthcoming album Time Without Measure, out August 26th via the immensely supportive folks at Black Rd Records. You can pre-order the album now (and it’d be great if you did).
Album Cover
Time Without Measure took a little over a year to make. We work quickly — and more or less constantly — but, with this album, long stretches were devoted to revision, reworking: arrangements were taken apart then glued back together, lyrics changed then changed again — revision on top of revision. Our friend Daniel Smith (of the great band Danielson, though you might know him from his work with Sufjan Stevens or mewithoutYou) produced the album. Our five day recording session provided yet another opportunity to assess and alter the songs, which we did, and often drastically. The result is, by far, my favorite record of ours. I’m excited for you to hear it.
I thought I’d write just a bit about the lyrical content. I conceived of Time Without Measure as a book of saints. Each song is a biographical sketch of the person or persons named in the title. Representation was an important concern. As the album came together, a secondary theme of activism emerged, which many early listeners — bandmates, friends, and concertgoers — embraced with an enthusiasm I had not expected.
Time Without Measure was arranged and performed by Ben Rosen, Dan Comly, Luke Pigott, Kevin Walker, Ashley Cubbler and myself. I can’t praise this group enough, and I’m excited to tour with them, as well as our friend Rachel, in the coming weeks and months. (See the Shows section of our website.)
Again, you can pre-order the record here. Additionally, it would be very helpful if you could spread the word about the release. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the six years we’ve been a band, it’s that I cannot will us to success. If you could lend a hand, that'd be wonderful.
OK. Thank you all for being a lovely community of friends and listeners. Stay tuned for more announcements in the weeks ahead.
Eric for The Chairman Dances