Eric Krasno announced a new solo album, Always, due out on September 17th via Mascot Label Group. The Grammy-winning guitarist also shared the single, “So Cold.”
Always is the follow-up to Krasno’s solo album Telescope, released in 2019 under his Kraz moniker. The new solo effort sees Krasno reflecting on family life.
“Before 2020, I was having a good time, but I wasn’t grounded at all,” Eric said in a statement. “I was going from gig to gig. I was always running around without a purpose. During the last year, I found my people in terms of my wife and son. I’ve created a family who will always be there for me. That’s what the album is about.”
“If you take away a message of love and the Always concept, that’s great,” he added. “Most of all, I want to put you in a happy place. In the past, I personally just felt like I was a guitarist, songwriter, and a producer. Now, I feel like a fully formed artist.”
Krasno also found the sound to go along with his newfound outlook. Taking a cue from his former Lettuce bandmate drummer Adam Deitch, Eric hooked up with musician and producer Otis McDonald for a cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Man In Me,” which also appears on Always.
“My wife and I got married, bought a house, and had a baby,” the guitarist continued. “I had heard [“The Man In Me”] many times before, but it had never quite hit me the way it was hitting me. I recorded it with just acoustic guitar and vocals, and I loved what Otis did to it. He sent it back to me, and I thought, ‘This is exactly how I want to make my next record.’”
To record his new album, Krasno took to San Francisco’s famed Hyde Street Studios, where an eclectic group of musicians from the Grateful Dead to 2Pac has taken up shop. Along with co-producing the album with Kraz, McDonald plays bass in Eric Krasno & The Assembly which also features Wil Blades on keyboards, Curtis Kelly on drums and James VIII on guitar.
The ace band can be heard on the single, “So Cold,” which Krasno also detailed.
“It’s about a relationship,” he said. “This girl takes out her anger on other people, and the guy is trying to get to the bottom of what’s wrong and why she’s so cold. You’re trying to leave dark things behind and move into a more positive place. It has a hopeful tone because I’ve gotten past it.”
“So Cold” arrived along with a video. Check it out below:
Always Tracklist:
- Silence
- So Cold
- Lost Myself
- Man in Me
- Alone Together
- Where I Belong
- Leave Me Alone
- Good Thing
- Hold Tight
- Always With You
