Grounded in friendship and a sense of freedom to follow sounds through whatever windswept fields they found themselves in, the result of the collaboration is Echolalia, due for release on February 28th via Full Time Hobby. Pastoral and psychedelic, cosy and progressive, Echolalia is comfortable in its own oddness and creative in ways both familiar and unexpected.
“It was Jordan Lehning that decided to put it together,” says songwriter and pedal steel wizard Spencer Cullum, who performs alongside the likes of country super star Miranda Lambert and ambient jazz auteur Rich Ruth. “I told Jordan about this studio in a really desolate area on the Isle of Wight that a friend of mine runs called Chale Abbey. It's a beautiful old building from 1160 where monks used to live. The studio owners completely renovated it. Jordan had this idea - the four songwriters would have three songs and we'd work together to make a record of it”.
With the addition of multi-instrumentalists Eli Beaird, Juan Solorzano and Lehning’s brother Jason behind the board, the group gathered in Chale Abbey Studios for a very un-Nashville experience: no charts, no headphones, no isolation. No preconceptions, no expectations, just friends enjoying one another's talents, responding with a sense of joy. No obligations to corporate radio or shareholder value, no amp modelling and quantization - just musicians making music.
