The Third Mind will release Right Now!, their highly anticipated third studio album, September 19 on Yep Roc Records. Today, the all-star collective unveils the first single, a rendition of The Youngbloods’ “Darkness, Darkness,” shared in memory of Jesse Colin Young.
Recorded live over four days at 64 Sound Recording Studio in Los Angeles, Right Now! is a masterclass in instinct and improvisation by skillful musicians meeting in real time to find the songs as they go. “Everything about this record is intuitive,” says GRAMMY award-winning singer/songwriter and guitarist and The Third Mind co-founder Dave Alvin. “It’s five musicians walking a tightrope, improvising in dialogue with each other and finding the songs in real time.”
What began as a free-form studio experiment between Alvin and Victor Krummenacher (Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker, Monks of Doom, Eyelids), inspired by the spontaneity of Miles Davis’ improvisational work, The Third Mind morphed into a supergroup enlisting guitarist David Immerglück (Counting Crows, John Hiatt, Monks of Doom, Camper Van Beethoven), drummer Michael Jerome (Richard Thompson, Better Than Ezra, John Cale), and singer/songwriter Jesse Sykes (Jesse Sykes & The Sweeter Hereafter), whose mesmerizing vocal presence Alvin credits as the band’s anchor. “To me, Jesse’s vocals are the glue that holds this whole thing together,” says Alvin. “Her voice is so unique, and she sings with such intense introspection that it just sucks you in.”
Like its predecessors, Right Now! draws heavily from the 1960s songbook, reimaging classics with fearless creativity. The unpredictable and engrossing sonic journey is a boundary-blurring blend of psychedelic rock, folk, blues, and soul, featuring expansive, kaleidoscopic take on songs by Elizabeth Cotten, Otis Rush, Pharoah Sanders, and Mimi & Richard Fariña, alongside one standout original: the hauntingly sensual “Before We Said Goodbye,” which channels the atmospheric heights of Jefferson Airplane.
From the reworking of Elizabeth Cotten’s “Shake Sugaree,” filtered through Fred Neil’s 1966 version, to the eerie traditional murder ballad “Pretty Polly,” which lands somewhere between The Grateful Dead and Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Right Now! is “not a concept record,” says Krummenacher, “but there’s a darkness that flows beneath the surface of everything (including Lou Beach’s brilliant collage on the cover).” The band unleashes a searing interpretation of “Reno, Nevada” by Mimi & Richard Fariña and an ominously piercing take on Otis Rush’s “Reap What You Sow” before closing on a transcendent note with Pharoah Sanders’ “The Creator Has A Master Plan.”
Despite the album’s sprawling nature, The Third Mind abides by a few core guidelines: show up, don’t overthink it, and surrender to the moment; no rehearsals, no written arrangements, no discussions on approach, just a list of songs and keys meant to serve as a guide on the band’s journey toward wherever the spirit takes them. “We record in a circle all looking at each other and cut everything live in just two or three takes,” says Dave. “It’s simultaneously the most old-fashioned and most modern way we could make a record. Every single note we play is in service of the song and our interpretation of it in that moment.”
Right Now! Tracklisting:
Shake Sugaree – Elizabeth Cotten
Pretty Polly – Traditional adapted by Judy Collins/Michael Sahl
Before We Said Goodbye – Jesse Sykes/Dave Alvin
Reno, Nevada – Richard Fariña
Reap What You Sow – Michael Bloomfield/Nick Gravenities
Darkness, Darkness – Jesse C. Young
The Creator Has a Master Plan – Ferrell Lee Sanders/Leon Thomas
