Today’s New Albums: Big Red Machine, Steve Gunn, Marisa Anderson & William Tyler + More

Each week Release Day Picks profiles new LPs and EPs Team JamBase will be checking out on release day Friday. This week we highlight new albums by Big Red Machine, Steve Gunn, Marisa Anderson & William Tyler, Tré Burt and Southern Avenue. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.

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Big Red Machine – How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?

The Scoop: Aaron Dessner (The National) and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) once again brought together an impressive roster of musicians for the second Big Red Machine album, How Long To You Think It’s Gonna Last?, which is out today on Jagjaguwar/37d03d. Guests appearing across the album’s 15 tracks include Anaïs Mitchell, Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold, Taylor Swift, Sharon Van Etten, Naeem, Ilsey, Lisa Hannigan, Shara Nova, La Force, Ben Howard and This Is The Kit. The follow-up to Big Red Machine’s self-titled 2018 debut album was produced by Dessner and recorded at his Long Pond studio in upstate New York.

“This is all music I initially generated and feel emotionally connected to, but it has been very interesting to hear how different people relate to it and how different voices collide with it,” Dessner stated. “That’s what makes it special. With everyone that’s on this record, there’s an openness, a creative generosity and an emotional quality that connects it all together.”

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Steve Gunn – Other You

The Scoop: Steve Gunn released his album, Other You, today via Matador. The singer-songwriter and guitarist recorded the follow-up to 2019’s Unseen In Between with producer Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith, Cass McCombs, Kurt Vile) at Schnapf’s Mant Studios in Los Angeles. In a press release announcing the album, Gunn revealed how some studio wizardry from Schnapf led to the LP’s title.

“I came up with this title when we were recording vocals and Rob was very into harmonies. There was a third part and I just couldn’t find the note. I couldn’t vocalize it. He went in and took my voice and put it into his computer program, then he could playback and “sing” the note with my voice using the computer. And he said, ‘Sing to the other you.’ So I was singing along to myself singing a note I couldn’t sing.”

Gunn also tapped friend frequent collaborator Justin Tripp — who appears on Steve’s albums Time Off and Way Out Weather — to contribute to the record as well as Juliana Barwick, Mary Lattimore, Bridget St. John, Jeff Parker, Bill MacKay, Ben Bertrand and drummer Ryan Sawyer (TV On The Radio, Thurston Moore, Gang Gang Dance) among others. Gunn previewed Other You with the two-song single consisting of the title track and “Reflection.” He then followed with “Fulton” and most recently, “Circuit Rider.”

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Marisa Anderson & William Tyler – Lost Futures

The Scoop: Guitarists Marisa Anderson and William Tyler released their collaborative album, Lost Futures, today on Thrill Jockey. The Portland-based Anderson and at-the-time Nashville-based Tyler first interacted at a tribute concert for David Berman held in Portland in January 2020 (Tyler was a one-time member of Berman’s Silver Jews).

“There was an obvious and immediate affinity musically and personally which led to the feeling that we should try and do something together,” Anderson said. “But in January of 2020, both of us had pretty full schedules so it was more of a vague idea to do something, someday… then COVID hit.”

The two recorded Lost Futures in September 2020 when Tyler joined Anderson in Portland for sessions held with producer Tucker Martine at his Flora Recording studio. The title of the eight-song LP comes from, “writer Mark Fisher’s cultural theory of the loss of potential futures, the hopes and ideals which once felt inevitable but have since been interrupted.”

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Tré Burt – You, Yeah, You

The Scoop: Singer-songwriter Tré Burt’s album You, Yeah, You arrived today via Oh Boy Records. The follow up to his 2020 debut LP, Caught It From The Rye, saw Burt teaming up with renowned producer Brad Cook to record the album in Durham, North Carolina at Sounds Pure Studios as well as Cook’s home studio, Puff City. Brad Cook also contributed to the album (bass, synth) alongside his brother Phil Cook (harmonica, keys) as well Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath on vocals and more. Burt’s Oh Boy label mate Kelsey Waldon sings on Tré’s homage to Oh Boy co-founder John Prine. Burts pays tribute to his hero with the song “Dixie Red,” which references a number of songs in Prine’s stunning catalog.

Press materials for You, Yeah, You describe the LP as “a narrated collection of songs featuring a cast of invented characters; heroes, villains, those destitute of salvation and those seeking it…The album represents a summoning of will to fight the unknown rather than surrender to fear and fatigue. Like his late label mate and songwriting hero John Prine, Burt showcases his poet’s eye for detail, surgeon’s sense of narrative precision and his songwriters’ ability to transpose observation into affecting verse.” Burt’s skilled song smithery is on full display on standout singles “Sweet Misery” and “By The Jasmine” and more.

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Southern Avenue – Be The Love You Want

The Scoop: Memphis-based soul act Southern Avenue today unveiled their third studio album, Be The Love You Want, via Renew Records/BMG. The group consisting of lead vocalist Tierinii Jackson, guitarist Ori Naftaly, drummer Tikyra Jackson, keyboardist Jeremy Powell and bassist Evan Sarver tapped Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin to co-produce the follow-up to 2019’s Keep On with Naftaly. Ori also co-wrote the majority of the album’s 12 tracks with Tierinii Jackson.

Sarver and Tikyra Jackson got in on the writing duties by penning Be The Love You Want tracks “Let’s Get It Together” and “Pressure.” Additionally, Southern Avenue collaborated with Jason Mraz and Michael Goldwasser (Easy Star All-Stars) on “Move Into The Light” and teamed with North Mississippi Allstars’ Cody Dickinson on “Heathen Hearts.” The album is said to feature original music “that links them to their home city’s glorious past while at the same time, demonstrates their ambitious intent to evolve Memphis music to contemporary effect,” as per press materials announcing the LP.

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Compiled by Scott Bernstein, Nate Todd and Andy Kahn.