Sylvan Esso has always made the most of a limited palette, finding intriguing ways to make relatively spare electronics and simple beats feel like a feast. But for the North Carolina-based duo's latest project, singer Amelia Meath and producer Nick Sanborn decided to see what happens when their songs are fleshed out and performed by a full band — piano, saxophone, electric guitar and more.
The result is a new visual EP called Echo Mountain Sessions, a collection of Sylvan Esso songs performed by Meath and Sanborn, with members of Wye Oak, The Mountain Goats, Hiss Golden Messenger, Mountain Man and Megafaun.
"The songs breathe in this totally different way," Sanborn told us in an interview about the project. They're "reflected back at us by our friends in our community. It just reminded us what [the songs] were."
Echo Mountain Sessions includes five songs that originally appeared on Sylvan Esso's most recent full-length, What Now: "Rewind," "Die Young," "The Glow" and "Slack Jaw," all performed and filmed live at the Echo Mountain studio in Asheville, N.C. You can watch the full videos below.
Echo Mountain Sessions is out now on Loma Vista.
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