Mack Avenue Records is excited to announce the release of GRAMMY® nominated Julian Lage’s new album, Love Hurts. Out everywhere on February 22, Love Hurts was produced by Lage at The Loft, Wilco’s expansive studio space in Chicago’s Irving Park. The album marks the guitarist’s third Mack Avenue LP recorded with a trio, and his first to feature bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King (The Bad Plus). Love Hurts collects a series of multifaceted, freewheeling interpretations of pieces written by a range of artists and songwriters representative of Lage’s omnivorous musical appetite.
“The covers on this record are like when you move into a new apartment; the last thing you do is hang your pictures on the wall,” Lage says. “Those pictures define your aesthetic in a way. So the tunes we chose kind of define the aesthetic I love but hadn’t put on a record yet.”
To celebrate the announcement, Lage is releasing the Alex Chaloff directed video of the first track from Love Hurts, “Tomorrow Is The Question” – a cover of Ornette Coleman’s masterful tune from 1959 (below).
Hailed as one of the most prodigious guitarists of his generation, Julian Lage has spent more than a decade searching through the myriad strains of American musical history via impeccable technique, free association and a spirit of infinite possibility. Though only 31, the New York-based musician boasts a long, prolific résumé as sideman (alongside such icons as Gary Burton and John Zorn), duo partner (with Nels Cline, Chris Eldridge and Fred Hersch, among others), and as soloist and bandleader. Love Hurts – which marks Lage’s third Mack Avenue LP recorded with a trio, and his first to feature bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King (The Bad Plus) – sees the GRAMMY® nominated guitarist exploring the American song catalog from a truly unique vantage point, performing music written by a range of audacious and original artists, from Roy Orbison to Ornette Coleman, Jimmy Giuffre to Peter Ivers. Lage and his rhythm section build upon the wandering sonic outlook of his previous LPs, further impelling his defining amalgam of jazz fusion, jam band liberation, standards, and embryonic rock ‘n’ roll with virtuosic precision, adventurous improvisation, and a remarkably clear vision.
“For me, this recording completes a trilogy of approaches to the trio,” says Lage. “They’re all similar but illuminate different fascinations.”
