Multi-instrumentalist/producer Josh Kaufman (Bonny Light Horseman), guitarist Paul Banks (Interpol) and drummer Matt Barrick (Jonathan Fire*Eater, The Walkmen and Fleet Foxes’ touring band) announced the formation of a new project called Muzz. The band’s self-titled album is due out on June 5 via Matador Records and features the lead single “Red Western Sky” that can be streamed below.
Banks and Kaufman’s relationship dates back to attending the same high school in Spain before each separately relocated to New York City. In later years, Barrick worked on different recording projects with both Banks and Kaufman. The first Muzz recording session was held in 2015.
“I love The Walkmen and every band Matt’s been a part of; he does things on the drums that are so subtle and tasteful it gives me the warm fuzzies,” Banks stated. “And since we were kids, Josh has been a real inspiration to me, a talent on some other plane. As a producer he creates an environment where other musicians can shine. There’s a creative overlap we share that revolves around Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, The Stones, and Dylan that I haven’t really had an outlet for all these years, so this is us exploring that.”
All three members contributed lyrics and vocals on Muzz. The 12-track album also contains the previously shared “Broken Tambourine” and “Bad Feeling.”
“Josh has more training as a theory musician while Paul comes from a different perspective,” Barrick stated. “You never know how Paul’s gonna approach a song, lyrically and melodically, so it’s always unusual and exciting. Everyone is open to everyone else’s ideas. I think three is a great number of people for a band. We all had a big hand in everything.”
Kaufman coined the term “muzz” to describe the “subtle, analog quality and texture” of the band’s music.
“The music has this weird, super removed vibe but is also personal and emotional at the same time,” Kaufman stated. “If something felt natural in a simple way, we left it. I’d never heard Paul’s voice framed like that — a string section, horns, guitars — we know none of that is visionary but it felt classic and kind of classy.”
The first video allowed to shoot at the American Treasure Tour Museum in Oaks, Pennsylvania, “Red Western Sky” can be viewed here:
Bad Feeling
Broken Tambourine
Muzz Tracklist
- Bad Feeling
- Evergreen
- Red Western Sky
- Patchouli
- Everything Like It Used To Be
- Broken Tambourine
- Knuckleduster
- Chubby Checker
- How Many Days
- Summer Love
- All Is Dead To Me
- Trinidad
