Trailing a jam-packed summer of touring with Phish, and joining the Grateful Dead on the road for their Fare Thee Well tour gigs, Trey Anastasio is ready to put the focus on his solo career as he switches gears for a new solo album titled Paper Wheels, due out on October 30. George A. Loucas yielded the first video from the record, an animated and hypnotic video clip for "Lever Boy."
The video provides kaleidoscopic visuals motivated by Paper Wheel's deluxe vinyl addition packaging, crafted by Varnish Studio. The captivating imagery acts as a harmonious compliment to the song's wistful tone and dreamy attributes.
Paper Wheels, currently available for pre-order, was co-produced by previous collaborator Bryce Goggin and tackled from Anastasio's own Vermont studio, often referred to as The Barn. The album boasts lyric contributions from Steve "The Dude of Life" Pollak and Tom Marshall as well as bassist Tony Markellis, keyboardist Ray Paczkowski and drummer Russ Lawson of the Trey Anastasio Band, (TAB). A horn section can also be heard on Paper Wheels, offering the talents of multi-instrumentalist James Casey, trumpeter and vocalist Jennifer Hartswick and trombonist-vocalist Natalie Cressman, Rolling Stone notes.
"After a few tours, a band's chemistry starts to come together and things start to click," Anastasio explained to Rolling Stone in a statement. "I wanted to capture that feeling on this album, so basically we walked into the barn and just played. What you're hearing on 'Lever Boy' is the sound of a band playing live, together in a room, with very little isolation - with a couple of simple layers added, very quickly. The album was tracked in about two days, and we rarely did more than one or two takes of each song."
The 51-year-old musician reflected on his time filling in for the Dead's late Jerry Garcia, detailing Phil Lesh and Bob Weir's knack of ignoring his cues to end a jam. "I love to jam," Anastasio said as Billboard notes. "I love to jam long. But even for me, the time would come when I'd think, 'This is too noodle-y. Let's play the next song.' I would do something, a lick that gently alluded to it. Then Phil would look over at me and put his hand up, like, 'What's your rush, dude?'"
In support of Paper Wheels, they will launch a fall tour on October 16 starting at Brooklyn's Kings Theatre, allowing Anastasio to jam for as long or quickly as he pleases.
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