California quartet Animal Liberation Orchestra (ALO) will be releasing Tangle Of Time their ninth album and their first new LP since 2012. Over the last couple of years the members have all been working hard on individual side projects such as touring with Jack Johnson, Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead, Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers, and Mokie. Consisting of Zach Gill (keys/vocals), Steve Adams (bass/vocals), Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz (guitar/vocals) and Dave Brogan (drums/vocals), the quartet has continually incorporated different elements into their sound, while remaining true to themselves. Upon Jack Johnson signing the band in 2006 to his Brushfire Records label, which then re-released 2005’s Fly Between Falls ALO has upped the ante of their live shows, forging one of the more unique live rock experiences and creating a performance where almost anything can happen thematically and musically.
Entering Allegiant Records in San Anselmo, California this past January with co-producer Dave Simon-Baker, the four members decided they’d take a different recording approach. Instead of spending pre-production days jamming and co-writing, each member brought in their own demos, roughly three dozen in total, for the group to listen to, pick apart and eventually whittle down to the 11 songs that make up Tangle Of Time. Once they narrowed their focus, they turned their attention to arrangements and production techniques. Songs were tightened up, layers made more experimental and the end results validated their new approach. Lebo described the shared respect and admiration the band felt during the recording process this way: “There are four strong opinions in the room, but playing together for so long we’ve all become pretty good at the empathy thing at this point; we can be very Zen about it. We truly value being together at this point in our careers, and whatever we get from our solo and side gigs, no matter how much fun we have, it’s not this.”
Glide is premiering “Coast to Coast” off of Tangle Of Time (below), a song written by Brogan and one of the most powerful tracks on the Tangle of Time.
Brogan along with co-writer buddy Ben Malan, came up with a layer-upon-layer soundscape consisting of beautifully esoteric textures. The funky but ominous track tells the surreal tale of a band on the run, with more ideas and energy than know-how. “Coast to Coast” is basically about hubris: when big ambitions and bad planning collide, said Brogan to Glide. “Celebrating the amazing fact that hubristic individuals, groups, organizations, even whole cultures can go on for decades without ever getting a reality check.”
