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Chris Robinson Brotherhood Announces Second Studio Album

Photo by Matthew Shelter

A few weeks after releasing their debut album Big Moon Ritual, Chris Robinson Brotherhood have confirmed that they will release another full-length album, The Magic Door, on September 11. Both albums were recorded in two marathon sessions earlier this year at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles with producer Thom Monahan (Vetiver, Devendra Banhart, Papercuts) after the band wrapped up a 118-show 2011 tour during which the band road-tested all the material. In addition to Robinson, the Brotherhood features Neal Casal (guitar, vocals), Adam MacDougall (keys, vocals), George Sluppick (drums) and Mark Dutton (bass, vocals).

“I would say very early on in the recording—within the first two days,” says Robinson when asked about the moment he realized two albums would emerge. “Thom had encouraged us to remain true to the arrangements we had been playing all year on the road. We inevitably had some longer pieces and felt that the performances were strong enough that we didn’t want to edit them for any extraneous reasons.”

The Magic Door contains seven songs: six originals—“Someday Past The Sunset,” “Vibration & Light Suite,” “Appaloosa,” “Little Lizzie Mae,” “Sorrows Of A Blue Eyed Liar” and “Wheel Don’t Roll”—plus a cover of Hank Ballard’s “Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go,” a CRB set list staple. The songs (written by Robinson, with Neal Casal on “Wheel Don’t Roll” and Casal and Adam MacDougal on “Sorrows Of A Blue Eyed Liar”) are all free flowing and some lengthy, with “Vibration & Light Suite” clocking in at 13:56.

Chris Robinson Brotherhood are featured on the September cover of Relix. Click here to pre-order the issue.