Year after year the New York City we know, in constant flux, changes with some parts disappearing altogether. Take the Brooklyn venue where the three-piece EZTV played their first show two years ago – gone. The East Village record store that stocked the band’s first tape on consignment – shuttered. As the band watch their compatriots move out of the city to cheaper, more idyllic pastures, it’s as if New York itself is telling them: “Drop dead.” When lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Ezra Tenenbaum sings, “Facedown on the concrete, While I dream of wider streets” on “States of Confusion,” you can hear weariness in his voice, and a touch of wistful “what-if” longing for more room, a little less hassle, a few more trees… maybe even a garage to park the 8-track machine.
But the shining “High Flying Faith” — the first song written for the album — is a refutation of urban weariness, it’s title perhaps acting as a makeshift motto for the optimism (and stubbornness) that is key to New York bands like EZTV. Inspired by the lyrics of “Broken Heart” by Skip Spence, it’s a 12-string-propelled nugget that best shows how EZTV operate: toeing the line between past and present, with a keen ear for left-of-the-dial experimentation that never lets the songs hew too far into pastiche and genre nostalgia.
Many of the band’s foundational inspirations — the Feelies’ upstart jangle, the upside-down pop architecture of Arthur Russell’s power pop band The Necessaries, Shoes’ aching harmonies — are back in play on High in Place, their sophomore album, though new instruments and feels abound throughout. Produced and engineered by the band themselves, a baby grand piano rings and 12-string acoustic guitars shimmer throughout the album, recalling the clear-eyed production techniques of Jeff Lynne.
One great advantage to living in New York: eventually all your friends come to visit. Taking advantage of tour stopovers, trips to attend weddings, or even just commandeering someone’s vacation for a few days, EZTV invited some like-minds and fellow songwriters into the studio — Jenny Lewis, Chris Cohen, Martin Courtney and Matt Kallman of Real Estate, John Andrews of Quilt, Nic Hessler and Mega Bog — to guest on High in Place. Aptly recorded on a tape machine purchased from a Lower East Side Studio that was going out of business, in a space where the New York City skyline both loomed and inspired through its glass windows, High in Place is an album of ten golden pop songs worthy of any era.
🚨 Ahem! 🚨 Today, we’re super excited to share our remaining CT10 releases. Say 👋 to a beautiful DIIV Covers 7″ and a final repress of Minks’ debut, By The Hedge! We’re also revealing the tracklist for our budget Label…
Brooklyn’s EZTV are excited announce a forthcoming week-long tour with Ex Hex. The dates kick off September 6 in Baltimore and conclude September 10 in Philadelphia. Along the way the hit Brooklyn ‘s Bell House on September 7. The full tour is listed below. Today EZTV share a video for their new single “Daytime”. It was shot…
EZTV have revealed a new video for “Reason to Run” from their sophomore album, High In Place. The video follows a cowboy lonesomely exploring New York City. EZTV offer insight into the inspiration, explaining, “We’re not a huge band. We…
Last month, EZTV released their sophomore album, High In Place. The band has now shared the video from one of the LP’s standout tracks “Racing Country”. Shot by EZTV and edited by Christian Peslak, the video has footage from when…
The sophomore album from EZTV is out this week and you can now preview in full today over at Stereogum! Stereogum writes that “High In Place further cements this band’s mastery of songwriting and mood, flexing an affinity for Byrds-style jangle,…
EZTV’s Michael Stasiak wrote a personal piece for The Talkhouse about the trials and tribulations of being a band living in a major city in 2016. “A couple of weeks after we sent Captured Tracks the final mixes of our forthcoming…
