Coming off their highly successful tour of No Place To Go, which The New York Times hailed as "immensely appealing" and Time Out New York called "a wry, gently angry defense of classic New York humanity," Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra are as tight a band as any you'll find. Their time together on the road has resulted in their most cohesive work to date, Raw Milk, which they'll release on May 26. The band continues their monthly residency at Joe's Pub at The Public through June (April 30, May 20, June 27), with more dates being announced soon.
The songs of
Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra are steeped in American traditions of yore (jazz, blues, country, lounge), but his subjects are thoroughly modern (
Rahm Emanuel, oat groats, pets, dumplings). It all adds up to a hilariously cockeyed view of an odd, disjointed age. PopMatters calls Lipton, "A sardonic voice that offers an unlikely kind of comfort against the vagaries of everyday life."
Raw Milk stands out from Lipton's previous three releases, eschewing the central narrative of No Place To Go, which told the story of a man who's job is outsourced to Mars, and veering away from songs that tap other personas in the way the band's first two studio albums, Mr. Softy and Honker often did. Here, he's created a cycle of stylistically eclectic songs with a singular point of view. These songs meditate broadly on the indignities of growing older, while still maintaining the playfulness of youth. In "Here I Go," Lipton tries to settle with the follies of his youth, writing "I will learn to love my burdens/I will leave behind regret/All the dumb things I asserted/let the lord forgive if not forget." While on the next song, "Absolutely No New Skills," he struggles with the idea of growth, saying, "New skills just make me weep/I got to dance-dance-dance-dance-dance."
Though lyrics remain at the center of the
Ethan Lipton & his Orchestra experience, Raw Milk opens up musically more than any previous release from the band, making way for the talented trio of bandmates who've been by Lipton's side for the past decade: guitarist
Eben Levy, bass player Ian Riggs and saxophonist
Vito Dieterle. Recorded at Dreamland Studios in Hurley, NY, the songs are written by Lipton and arranged by the full quartet, with everyone contributing on various other instruments and backup vocals. GRAMMY-nominated trombonist Roswell Rudd plays on the track "Good Old Man."
Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra has been a band since 2005, playing around New York (Joe's Pub, Barbes, Rockwood, Celebrate Brooklyn!) and beyond (MASS MoCA, Camden Opera House, Portsmouth Music Hall). They have released five albums (three studio, two live) and have been named the city's "Best Lounge Act" by New York magazine. In 2012, the band won an Obie Award for No Place to Go, produced by the Public Theater at Joe's Pub. The show earned rave reviews and has since been produced theatrically at the
Gate Theatre in London, and in concert in more than 25 cities across the U.S., as well as at All Tomorrow's Parties in East Sussex, UK, curated by The National. The band has been featured on radio shows such as "Weekend Edition," "The World," "BBC Saturday Review," "Word of Mouth," and "Soundcheck," and contributed to the Clash cover album "Sandinista." They also play songs and appear in the film "The Shift." As a performer, Lipton has sung backup for
Laurie Anderson and appeared in the ERS production "Gatz." As a playwright, his work has been produced in NYC, LA, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, Edinburgh, Scotland and Berne, Austria.
Tickets for the Joe's Pub performances are $20 and can be purchased online at www.publictheater.org or by calling 212-967-7555.
.png)
