| |
|
|
| |
photo
by Jim Newberry |
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
In
1988, Eleventh Dream Day's Rick Rizzo told Greg Kot that songwriting
was a kind of a "purge." Although the music business
has changed vastly around them, Zeroes and Ones shows a band
whose pure intent remains unaffected by the passage of time
or the change of landscape. Twenty years into the partnership,
Eleventh Dream Day retains its youthful enthusiasm. The music
has evolved greatly since '88, but the spark and the drive remain
the same.
Recorded at North Branch Studio in Chicago by Barry Phipps,
with overdubs by keyboardist Mark Greenberg at Mayfair Recording,
and mixed by John McEntire at Soma studios, Zeroes and Ones,
is the band's tenth album.
Zeroes and Ones presents a contrast between the personal and
reflective lyrics and the catharsis of playing really loud.
For this new set of songs, Rick Rizzo spent the summer of 2005
vowing to write a new song each day (although he jokingly admits
that about fifty days somehow slipped by) , many on themes of
identity and existence, "mixed with whatever flew by the
window." Zeroes and Ones is about, "the difference
between gravity and floating away, reality or dream, looking
for something to grasp or simply letting go."
Eleventh Dream Day certainly hasn't let go since they formed
in 1983. After releasing their eponymous EP in '87, Prairie
School Freakout in '88, and the Wayne EP months after, the band
singed to Atlantic in '89. They released three albums: Beet,
Lived to Tell, and El Moodio as well as a live album recorded
at Chicago's Lounge Ax before severing the relationship with
Atlantic and it's "Progressive Department". The band's
A & R person also parted with to form Thrill Jockey; the
band's generous spirit and infectious love of music has been
central part of the label. Members of Eleventh Dream Day have
gone on to form Tortoise, Brokeback, and Freakwater and released
various solo albums.
The band's enthusiasm for playing is palpable on Zeroes and
Ones. Eleventh Dream Day has crafted the finest album of its
long career. The guitar playing and song writing is elevated,
the raw energy honed and undiluted by the passage of time. Peter
Pan indeed…. "To be a band at this point," Rizzo
said, "the process has changed, but the chemistry is the
same." |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Zeroes and Ones
Thrill Jockey
2005
|
|
|
|
