Marco Benevento’s Let It Slide Out September 20 (RPF)

Marco Benevento’s new studio album Let It Slide (out September 20 / RPF) finds the keyboardist, singer and songwriter exploring exciting new territory, introducing a gritty, soulful edge to his celebrated and self-described “hot dance piano rock.” Let It Slide is the result of a new partnership and fast friendship with Leon Michels (El Michels Affair) who has worked with Dr. John, Dan Auerbach, Charles Bradley, Lee Fields and Mark Ronson. Michels produced the album and recorded it at Diamond Mine studios in Queens and Benevento’s own Fred Short studio in the Catskills. Today Benevento has also announced an October run of headlining shows including Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 24. See full itinerary below. 

Watch the video for “Let It Slide” via KCRW here:https://www.kcrw.com/music/articles/track-premiere-marco-benevento-let-it-slide

And on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joFRnBi4f3I

::: embed: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joFRnBi4f3I" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> ::: 

The “Let It Slide” single will be available on all streaming services Friday June 28: https://orcd.co/mbsingle

Benevento’s sound has remarkably evolved with each new project he’s released (this is his seventh solo studio album), a testament to his distinct vision, proclivity for experimentation and deft selection of co-conspirators. Let It Slide came to be partly because of Richard Swift, who first introduced Benevento to Michels while Swift and Michels were working with Dan Auerbach on The Arcs (Benevento ended up subbing for Michels on a number of tour dates at Swift’s suggestion). Swift also produced Benevento’s first foray into vocals, captured on his 2014 Swift LP.

“I’d never put my music so completely in someone else’s hands before,” says Marco, of Leon Michels. “I’d been hesitant to work with outside producers in the past, but the experience of making this record ended up being so freeing and exciting. I loved every single minute of it.”

Benevento has long explored ways to make the acoustic piano sound different, and for Let It Slide he modded his piano strings with gaffing tape to create a riff-worthy muted sound, then ran it through a tumbleweed of effects. Benevento and Michels also had great fun using the Binson Echorec, a tape machine that gave 70s Pink Floyd its distinct sound. The album soars with driving psych rock songs (“Solid Gold”), plucky riffs (“Say It’s All The Same”) and sticky hooks (“Let It Slide,” “Send It On A Rocket”), amounting to his most fully realized album yet. 

Let It Slide features Benevento (Vocals, Piano, Synths, Bass, Percussion), Nick Movshon (Drums, Bass), Leon Michels (Organ, Percussion, Bass, Guitar, Saxophone), Karina Rykman (Vocals and official bassist in Benevento’s touring trio), Andy Borger (Drums on “Solid Gold”) and longtime musical partner Brad Barr (Guitar on “Humanz”).

Benevento has performed everywhere from Carnegie Hall and Newport Jazz to Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo, and worked in the studio and on the road with the likes of Richard Swift (The Shins, The Arcs), Jon Brion (Spoon, Aimee Mann), A.C. Newman (The New Pornographers), and Simone Felice (The Felice Brothers, The Lumineers). He also plays keyboards in Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. "It’s safe to say that no one sees the keyboard quite like Marco Benevento's genre-blind mashup of indie rock, jazz and skewed improvisation," the LA Times has raved, while NPR said he combines "the thrust of rock, the questing of jazz and the experimental ecstasy of jam.”

Pre-order Let It Slide here: https://smarturl.it/Marco-Benevento

Let It Slide Track List:

1. Let It Slide

2. Solid Gold

3. Baby Don’t Make Me Wait

4. Gaffiano #1

5. Say It’s All The Same

6. Humanz

7. Gaffiano #2

8. Send It On A Rocket

9. Lorraine

10. Nature’s Change

11. Oh Baby Can’t You See

12. You Got Away

13. Gaffiano #3

Tour dates:

7/13 - Marshfield, MA - Levitate Festival

8/1 - Albany, NY - Live At 5 Outdoor Concert Series

8/3 - Hackettstown, NJ - Waterloo Concert Field

8/24 - Sherman, NY - Night Lights Festival 

8/31 - Lake George, NY - Adirondack Independence Music Festival

10/10 - Buffalo, NY - Iron Works

10/11 - Ithaca, NY - The Haunt

10/13 - Woodstock, NY - The Colony *

10/17 - Portland, ME - Port City Music Hall ^

10/19 - Burlington, VT - Higher Ground ^

10/20 - Holyoke, MA - Gateway City Arts ^

10/23 - Fairfield, CT - FTC StageOne ^

10/24 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg ^

10/25 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts ^

10/26 - Washington, DC - Pearl Street Warehouse ^

* w/ Mikaela Davis

^ w/ The Mattson 2