Eggy, the New Haven, CT rock quartet known for its improv-focused live shows, has released its long-awaited sophomore album, Waiting Game. The ten-track LP, recorded with producer James Petralli (White Denim) in early 2023, marks the first full-length studio release from Eggy since 2019’s Watercolor Days.
While often (and not necessarily incorrectly) categorized as a “jam band,” Eggy—comprised of Jake Brownstein (guitar, vocals), Dani Battat (keys, vocals), Michael Goodman (bass, vocals), and Alex Bailey (drums, vocals)—aimed to break that mold on Waiting Game. Labels like melodic indie-folk, Laurel Canyon-inspired pop-rock, and introspective Americana feel more appropriate than “jam band,” which they tend to classify as a “community” rather than a “genre,” but one element in particular sticks out: While Jake and Dani, along with longtime lyricist Pat Amarante, are the primary songwriters on the record, Alex sings lead on every track.
The band hadn’t set out to make an album of “Alex songs,” Brownstein explained to Live For Live Music last year. During the four-week recording process with Petralli in Los Angeles, both Jake and Dani tracked lead vocals for songs they had written on the album. In both cases, they elected to go with Alex’s take. “I’ve put enough of myself into this music that I’m not really worried about giving songs I wrote to him to sing,” Brownstein told Live For Live Music of the creative choice. “Now, I just want this thing to be as good as it can possibly be.”
The wide range of sounds encompassed by the songs on Waiting Game put the band’s impressive growth over the past five years on full display. Each track on the new album presents its own journey complete with immersive production, thought-provoking lyrical content, and tactically restrained musicianship (with radio-friendly runtimes and a notable absence of “jam band” instrumental solos). Despite the strength of each individual song, however, Waiting Game is best enjoyed as a whole, a rare “no skips” album in a modern music landscape that often puts a premium on single tracks and social media-ready snippets.
Related: On Tour With Eggy: Waiting Game [Feature]
In the summer of 2023, as the band was putting final touches on the album and learning how its new sound fit into the group’s creative oeuvre, Live For Live Music tagged along with Eggy for a run of tour dates. The resulting profile, On Tour With Eggy: Waiting Game, chronicles an exciting yet disorienting inflection point in any success story: the moment when your actions and intentions begin to ripple beyond your reach.
At that time, the band was beginning to work the material from Waiting Game into its live sets but was conspicuously cutting the new songs from the nightly live recordings it uploads to nugs.net. “I think for many people that love music,” Brownstein said, “we all share in the fact that we’ve had some album that you put your headphones on or went for a drive and ended up listening to the whole thing and had a life-changing experience. When I listen to these songs, I remember not leaving this four-block radius and living in the studio for weeks, and the conversations that we had, and the nights that we would stay up and listen to it, or come up with new parts. It’s visual for me. There’s a whole moment in my life that that album represents.” By keeping the songs close until the record was completed, they hoped to facilitate for listeners a similarly vivid connection to the fully realized album.
Producer James Petralli offered some thoughts of his own on the experience when the album was first announced. “A couple months after I got set up in California,” he wrote, “I started a weekly virtual meeting with the group Eggy over coffee to talk about working on art. This is an activity that I enjoy very much and have grown accustomed to over the past few years. I loved this process with them. They were open and refreshingly communicative with one another. Each of them was committed to making their best work together. They were willing to dig deep and honor the small details in their writing and then in the recording. They were willing to disregard conventions and take risks as well. I’m talking massive dumb bendy dumpers in the middle of meticulously molded sonic landscapes. I kid of course but that’s this world ain’t it? Anyway-It was a joy and great privilege to host them and help them discover and create this work. I love these boys. They love one another and they love their music. It’s a wonderful thing to behold.”
Eggy will support the release of the new album with its upcoming Waiting Game Tour featuring headlining performances across Texas, Colorado, the Southeast, and more in addition to a number of appearances at high-profile festivals like Asbury Park, NJ’s Sea.Hear.Now, Austin, TX’s Austin City Limits, Live Oak, FL’s Suwannee Hulaween, and more. For a full list of upcoming Eggy tour dates, head here.
Listen to Waiting Game, the new album from Eggy, on the platform of your choice here or stream it via the player below. Pre-order the album on vinyl here. Scroll down to read insights from the band on each of the album’s ten tracks.
Eggy – Waiting Game – Full Album
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