Professionally dubbed cassettes with double-sided J-card on brick color. Features hand-placed tape labels, individually numbered. Only 25 available for mail-order. Limited to 50 total worldwide!
Includes unlimited streaming of Many States
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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edition of 25
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Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
All songs by Ben Baker (Dream of Creek Music, ASCAP)
Voices (in order of appearance):
Ann Rorick
Ben Baker
April Brennan
Guitars, etc:
Ben (acoustic, electric, banjo)
Hamilton Belk (pedal steel)
Adam Siemaszko (additional lead, track 4)
Hansoo Kim (lead, track 6)
Bass:
Dan Jircitano (electric)
Ben (upright)
Keys:
Ben (piano, synthesizers)
Jake Cassman (organ)
Horns:
The Damp Earth Orchestra
Drums and Percussion:
Ben
Background Meowing:
Arthur
Engineered and mixed by Ben Baker at Canadaway Records (Rochester NY)
Pianos recorded at The 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center (Fredonia NY)
Upright bass courtesy of the Dan Taylor Collection
Additional Engineering by:
Hamilton Belk at Roughly Nowhere (ME)
Dan Jircitano at The Salon (Rochester NY)
Hansoo Kim (Atlanta GA)
Adam Siemaszko at Canadaway West (Kenmore NY)
Mastered by Sam Carlson at Sans Serif Recording (New Haven CT)
Cover photo by Murie Gillett
Artwork layout by Dan Jircitano
MANY STATES is a story in parts. Production initially began on the collection in the hazy days of 2017. Completed, so it seemed, by the following summer, a nagging feeling of untapped potential and a sudden fit of pique caused songwriter Ben Baker to ultimately shelve the project as mastering drew near. Relegating the tracks to the shelf, Ben retained some highlights for live performance while moving on to other solo and group endeavors. Several of the songs were rehashed during the sessions for Ben’s next release, HOTEL THROAT (the EP which also marked his re-debut as That One Crocodile, having formerly been known as Doc Baker’s Traveling Musicological Extravaganza), but the older material resisted separation.
Bereft of work in a newly-built studio during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, Baker found new life in the archives and resolved to bring MANY STATES the light and life it still seemed to desire. Some songs began from the ground again, reshuffled and reimagined. However, notable through-lines spanning nearly half the record – grand piano tracks recorded on the historic stage at The 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center, and vocal contributions from collaborator Ann Rorick – would have been difficult, if not impossible, to recreate during the hard lockdown of 2020. These songs were rebuilt on those frames, with the existing material informing and bolstered by new instrumentation.
MANY STATES exists in a world informed by its characters, literal and literary. Joining Baker on this “version 2” outing alongside Rorick are stalwart friends and bandmates Dan Jircitano (Rectangle Creep, Dirtman), Adam Siemaszko (Park on Grass), Jake Cassman (Drunken Logic, So Ready), April Brennan (Dill, Fewn) and Hansoo Kim. Additional texture is provided on multiple tracks by session player and slide master Hamilton Belk, who’s pedal steel contributions are perhaps the most singular element that had been missing all along.
In the spirit of re-emergence, in a celebration of self-discovery, with the power of potential close at hand, MANY STATES has come again, for the first time.
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