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Leave It All Behind
Jonathan Ellinghaus
Leave It All Behind
Genre: Alternative Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (10) - Disc #1

On Jonathan Ellinghaus' Engine Company debut, the quiet push and pull of human transformation is set against the volatile backdrop of the east coast seascape where he grew up, and still resides ('I ve come a long way to be...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Jonathan Ellinghaus
Title: Leave It All Behind
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Engine Company Records
Release Date: 11/30/2004
Genre: Alternative Rock
Style: Indie & Lo-Fi
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 619517004526

Synopsis

Product Description
On Jonathan Ellinghaus' Engine Company debut, the quiet push and pull of human transformation is set against the volatile backdrop of the east coast seascape where he grew up, and still resides ('I ve come a long way to be with you/I ve survived a storm of sacrifice, 'You Win''). Songs roil with hopeful hellos, confused goodbyes, hard exits and harder entrances. His characters move cautiously and thoughtfully, torn by the strange way that actions can be both a positive and a negative force simultaneously.

Like Chris Whitley or Sea Change-era Beck, the ghosts of the great singer-songwriters are invoked, but in a modern way that seems to stretch the definition of the term. It is no surprise, then, why his first step forward as a songwriter would be titled Leave it All Behind.

In order to honor the directness of the writing, producer Blake Morgan devised a minimalist recording philosophy that included a cast of only three multi-instrumentalists: Jonathan (drums, vocals, acoustic guitar), Mike Errico (lap steel, acoustic, electric guitars), and himself (bass, keyboards, background vocals).

'It s a 16-track record,' explains Blake, 'and I wanted to utilize this limitation we put on ourselves to the fullest. Only the lead vocal is doubled. There are no guest appearances. There is only a straight path between the listener and the song itself.' Mike, who used Jonathan as the drummer for his own 2003 release, Skimming, jumped at the chance to be involved. 'Jonathan did some of the best playing of his life on my record, and when I found out he was doing one of his own, I wanted to contribute. Turns out, I think it s some of my best recorded guitar playing. His music really inspired me.'

Recording legend Phil 'Butcher Bros.' Nicolo (Fugees, Pete Yorn, Urge Overkill, etc.) provided the final polish by mastering the record at Philadelphia's famous Studio 4. The result is a recording of intimate songs wrapped in warm, sparse production that pulls the depth out of the songwriting, not the recording studio.

Jonathan embraces the irony of his choice of debut album title. 'We have to navigate contradictions over and over in life. To arrive somewhere new and better, sometimes one has to...well...' he flashes a warm, self-effacing smile, 'leave it all behind. You know?'