Growing at the Edges is sonically expansive, artfully blending genres from country to classical with the help of multifaceted co-producer Gabriel Birnbaum (Wilder Maker) and critically acclaimed string arranger Concetta Abbate. The band, alongside Lee and Birnbaum, was made up of Wilder Maker members Sean Mullins (Andy Shauf) and Nick Jost (Baroness) and features help from Jonnie Baker of Florist and Eva Goodman of Nighttime among others.
“I approached Growing at the Edges as an act of world-building. It was a place we visited often over the past 5 years collaging and sonically redecorating until it reflected the joy and the pain of being human in a universe that will always be changing. I wanted to make music that could simultaneously mourn versions of the past but still find hope in the seedlings which could, perhaps, bloom into better futures”
The album cover is a purposefully "unfinished" weaving by fiber artist Natalie Phillips.
“I had this theme for Growing at the Edges where I was thinking about the first little life forms that pop up after something natural like winter or less natural like a disaster and kind of channeling their spirit for the art and music. That got me imagining one of Natalie's beautiful weavings but in-process with stray yarn and loom still visible. Incomplete yet still beautiful. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.”
Mutual Benefit’s live shows are known for their rotating cast of wide-ranging musicians leading to inspired interpretations of the extensive catalogue on notable stages like MoMA’s sculpture garden or UK’s Green Man Festival as well as the occasional surprise park or basement show at home in Brooklyn. Throughout the years Mutual Benefit has been in Album of the Year lists among Pitchfork and Stereogum as well as Folk Musician of the Year by Village Voice in NYC.
“I approached Growing at the Edges as an act of world-building. It was a place we visited often over the past 5 years collaging and sonically redecorating until it reflected the joy and the pain of being human in a universe that will always be changing. I wanted to make music that could simultaneously mourn versions of the past but still find hope in the seedlings which could, perhaps, bloom into better futures”
The album cover is a purposefully "unfinished" weaving by fiber artist Natalie Phillips.
“I had this theme for Growing at the Edges where I was thinking about the first little life forms that pop up after something natural like winter or less natural like a disaster and kind of channeling their spirit for the art and music. That got me imagining one of Natalie's beautiful weavings but in-process with stray yarn and loom still visible. Incomplete yet still beautiful. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.”
Mutual Benefit’s live shows are known for their rotating cast of wide-ranging musicians leading to inspired interpretations of the extensive catalogue on notable stages like MoMA’s sculpture garden or UK’s Green Man Festival as well as the occasional surprise park or basement show at home in Brooklyn. Throughout the years Mutual Benefit has been in Album of the Year lists among Pitchfork and Stereogum as well as Folk Musician of the Year by Village Voice in NYC.
TRACK LISTING
1. Growing At The Edges
2. Remembering A Dream
3. Beginner's Heart
4. Prefiguring
5. Untying A Knot
6. Season Of Flame
7. Wasteland Companions
8. Winter Sun, Cloudless Sky
9. Little Ways
10. Signal To Bloom