Galactic will release their new album, Into the Deep, on July 17 via Provogue Records—part of the Mascot Label Group. The album is produced and arranged by band members Ben Ellman and Robert Mercurio and features collaborations with artists they’ve made connections with over the last 20 years—including Macy Gray, Mavis Staples, JJ Grey, Ryan Montbleau, David Shaw of The Revivalists, Maggie Koerner, Brushy One String and Charm Taylor.
In their twentieth year of exploring the musical possibilities born out of their work together as Galactic, Ellman, Mercurio, Stanton Moore, Jeff Raines and Rich Vogel have created an album founded on elements of Galactic’s past, filtered through the lens of where they’re headed in 2015. On Into the Deep, the band draws inspiration from people and ideas that have long been close to the artists’ hearts and in turn, to the development of their sound. “We look for uniqueness and a quality that makes the people we collaborate with distinctively who they are,” Mercurio says of their collaborations on the album.
A key part of the creative spark comes from the teamwork of Ellman and Mercurio, whose ever-evolving production and arranging skills helped usher the band into a new phase of studio work beginning with Ruckus in 2007. A series of albums focused around specific concepts like Mardi Gras followed––From the Corner to the Block, Ya-Ka-May, Carnivale Electricos––as did collaborations with new guests hailing from worlds outside the one Galactic calls its own. “A lot’s changed in the songwriting and recording process,” explains Mercurio, “we don’t generally all get in a room and write a song collectively at this point…which I think has allowed everybody to compose ahead of time instead of composing improvisationally.” “The fact that we can make our own records now, that was certainly not possible in the early days,” says Ellman, “pre-Katrina, we got our own rehearsal space and then we ended up getting our own ProTools rig…since then we’ve been making our own records.” Of producing Into the Deep, Ellman continues on to say, “we’re just always trying to increase our skills as producers and songwriters and arrangers by trying new things. It’s an evolution.”
GALACTIC TOUR DATES
May 15 Hangout Music Festival Gulf Shores, AL
May 23 Counterpoint Music Festival Rome, GA
May 24 Riverfest Little Rock, AR
June 3 Slowdown Omaha, NE
June 4 Summerfest Columbia, MO
June 5 Wakarusa Music Festival Ozark, AR
June 27 Electric Forest Festival Rothbury, MI
July 3 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival Portland, OR
July 4 High Sierra Music Festival Quincy, CA
July 11 The Levitate Music Festival Marshfield, MA
July 17 The Pemberton Music Festival Pemberton, Canada
July 18 Sioux Falls Jazz Fest Sioux Falls, SD
July 24 Fuji Rock Festival Niigata, Japan
August 9 Summer Meltdown Festival Darrington, WA
August 12 Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn, NY
August 13 Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn, NY
August 14 Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn, NY
August 15 Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn, NY
August 16 Ridgefield Playhouse Ridgefield, CT
August 18 The Chicken Box Nantucket, MA
August 19 The Chicken Box Nantucket, MA
September 5 North Coast Music Festival Chicago, IL
September 11 Lockn’ Music Festival Arrington, VA
September 19 Red Rocks Amphitheatre Morrison, CO
September 20 Belly Up Aspen Aspen, CO
October 2 Bear Creek Music & Arts Festival Live Oak, FL
October 3 Bear Creek Music & Arts Festival Live Oak, FL
January 6 Jam Cruise 14 Miami, FL
INTO THE DEEP TRACK LISTING
1. Sugar Doosie
2. Higher and Higher ft. JJ Grey
3. Into the Deep ft. Macy Gray
4. Dolla Dive ft. David Shaw and Maggie Koerner
5. Long Live the Borgne
6. Right On ft. Charm Taylor
7. Domino ft. Ryan Montbleau
8. Buck 77
9. Does It Really Make a Difference ft. Mavis Staples
10. Chicken in the Corn ft. Brushy One String
11. Today’s Blues
