Album Notes

This Year’s Epiphany marries Amateur Hour’s tightly crafted pop songs to the living, breathing, natural sound of a band making music in a room together. Inspired by classic records like Exile On Main St., Amateur Hour tracked live to analog tape in a sweltering Brooklyn studio last July. In search of one intangible element - vibe - the band worked quickly to record 10 complete songs in just over 3 days, overdubbing only vocals and piano. Eschewing the convenience of digital recording in favor of the warmth and texture of tape meant capturing honest performances without editing or cut-and-paste; vocals with no auto-tune. Self-imposed time constraints made spontaneity and urgency a tangible necessity.

Cameras were running during the sessions for This Year’s Epiphany, and the band has compiled a short documentary about the making of the record. Titled You Can Feel It If You Try, the film chronicles the sweat and stress of the whirlwind sessions and the optimism and energy captured on the songs of This Year’s Epiphany. The band is screening You Can Feel It If You Try online, serialized as webisodes at www.amateurhourmusic.com.

“Goodbye, Memphis” is the first single from This Year’s Epiphany. The song is simultaneously a tribute to late Big Star frontman Alex Chilton and a nod to one of author Philip Roth’s classic short stories. “Goodbye, Memphis” is available now; This Year’s Epiphany will be released in March.