Since 2003, David and Jeff Lazaroff have been writing and releasing some of the most interesting and eclectic music in the city, pulling from a wide range of inspirations -- from Americana to psych-rock to jazz to world music, and everything in between -- to consistently bring energetic and memorable sounds to the streets of St. Louis. Along with their bandmates, Grover Stewart (drums), Teddy Brookins (bass) and Mo Egeston (keyboards), the aptly named Brothers Lazaroff have released four full-length efforts over the years, each well-received by critics and fans alike.
Saturday, October 3 will mark the release of the group's fifth LP, Day and Night. The album also represents a departure for the band -- Nate Carpenter (Messy Jiverson, Downstereo) replaces Egeston on keyboards, the band's first lineup change in seven years.
The recording process was different this time as well. Whereas in the past the band would come to the studio with complete compositions, this record saw more writing during the sessions. David and Jeff brought Stewart along to Red Pill Entertainment Studios to work out some loose ideas, and soon the songs that would become Day and Night began to come to life.
"For these sessions we were writing bridges, interludes and new verses on the spot," David says. "The ease of working with just drums and guitars made it so we didn't have to relay new chord changes, melodic or harmonic ideas that developed on the fly. The intuitive communication we have with Grover after nine years of working together allowed us to create in the moment, providing for a lot of surprises and happy accidents."
From there, Brookins laid down his bass parts. Keyboards were completed by both Egeston and Carpenter, with each recording about half the record. During the editing process, the band decided the record needed something more.
"We wanted to explore some of the borderland sounds, both real and imagined, inspired by time spent in Austin and our New Orleans roots," Jeff says.
"We had the idea of using violin and trumpet lines throughout the album as opposed to a bunch of solos," David says.
The band brought Chicago-based composer/musician Stuart Rosenberg in to handle violin, and tapped the Funky Butt Brass Band's Adam Hucke for the trumpet and coronet. As a finishing touch, Denver sound artist Paco Proano mixed found sounds and field recordings from a recent trip to Spain and Morroco in the tracks.
Brothers Lazaroff teamed up with Brian McClelland of Blip Blap Video to produce videos for two songs from the new album, "Sacred Geometry" and "Mary." The latter, premiering today on RFT Music, stars Yo Gabba Gabba actress Kemba Russell, and was shot primarily at Pop's Blue Moon and on Cherokee Street during the this year's Cinco de Mayo celebration.
Brothers Lazaroff will host a listening party for Day and Night at Tick Tock Tavern this Saturday at 2 p.m. Though the official album release show is not until October, there will be a limited number of advanced copies for sale as well.
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