America

Vinyl LP pressing. Following on from a Fire Records reissue campaign which casts new light on a decades-long career, Wreckless Eric releases his first solo album in over a decade. It's about Eric, it's about America - a country he has toured since the late 70's, and where he has lived since 2011. Eric recorded the album in his ramshackle house in upstate New York: amplifiers in the kitchen, in the hallway, bass amp in the guest bedroom, microphones up the staircase, speaker cabinets in doorways, frenetic bursts of guitar feedback exploding out of the kitchen... A way of life transported from England to France, to England, back again to France, and finally to America. Eric played electric guitars and bass throughout, strummed a scratchy 3/4 size Framus Teenager acoustic (bought from an old blues singer down in Georgia) against simplistic drum loops of his own creation. Here and there he called on friends and neighbors - Brian Dewan - Wurlitzer organ and other dodgy keyboards, bringing in cheap but magnificent synthetic choirs. Jane Scarpantoni cello, Alexander Turnquist - e-bow guitar. Eric's wife Amy Rigby assisted on piano, banjo and vocal harmonies. Eric treated and manipulated the sounds the American musicians made as they were being recorded. The album ends with 'Have A Great Day', an immigrant's open-eyed appreciation of his new home.