Glenn Jones’ new album “The Giant Who Ate Himself And Other New Works for 6 & 12 String Guitar” is set for release on August 24th on Thrill Jockey Records. Thrill Jockey have just shared the album trailer above which features Jones performing “The Sunken Amusement Park”, a tune he made up in the studio – “an evocation of images of the amusement parks and boardwalks of the New Jersey coast submerged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
The Giant Who Ate Himself and Other New Works for 6 & 12 String Guitar is Glenn Jones at his most vivid, exploring memories old and new through beautifully woven threads of melody.
Jones approaches his compositions first and foremost as concepts, emotions, and colours. Every step in his process of writing and recording is in service of creating a distinct character for each piece. His choice of guitars or banjos, tunings, often alternating through his custom partial capos, to choices in tempo and phrasing, even down the environment where he records all play a role. Together with recording engineer Laura Baird, he chooses a location, often a house with some meaning or an arresting view, and sets up the recording space customized for this set of songs. According to Jones, “To get that sense of place and time, you have to let the world into the recording.” Both Baird and Matthew Azevado, who mixed the album, have been Jones’ trusted collaborators for several years in both performance and on recording. “Laura doing what she does best allows me to do what I do best,” Jones says. “Matt helps me turn those performances into albums.” With their assistance, The Giant Who Ate Himself translates the complicated emotions behind the songs into music that is emotionally resonant to the listener.
We’ll be bringing you more soon…
Pre-order here: thrilljockey.com/products/the-giant-who-ate-himself-and-other-new-works-for-6-12-string-guitar
Filmed by Zach Goldhammer and Homa Sarabi-Daunais.
Edited by Julia Dratel.
Photo Credit: Jesse Sheppard