Phil Cook Releases New Album Appalachia Borealis, A Profound Journey Set To Soul-Stirring Piano Meditations

Stunning Companion Film Debuts in Durham This Sunday, Followed by Performance at Big Ears Festival & Headline US Tour

Watch The Video For "Ambassador Cathedral" Here

Today, with the release of his stunning new album, Appalachia Borealis, Phil Cook fully enters his piano era, embracing his truest musical love like never before. Out now via Psychic Hotline, and produced by Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, the deeply personal and profoundly poignant suite of compositions captures the emotional range of a full and open existence – chronicling a path of endurance and a way forward. There's turmoil and sadness, but also the hope and joy of looking for the other side, as each of the instrument's 88 keys serve as a step beyond the darkness and into the light. Across the record's eleven meditations – ten original songs that began as windowside improvisations, and one soul-soothing rendition of Gillian Welch's "I Made A Lovers Prayer" – Cook journeys from spiritual awakening and exciting uncertainty ("Rise") into a galloping sense of wonder ("Two Hands in My Pocket"), muted contemplation ("Thrush Song"), rousing and cathartic possibility ("Buffalo"), unburdening blues ballads ("Reliever"), ultimate acceptance ("Appalachia Borealis"), and so much more. 

Listen to Appalachia Borealis via Psychic Hotline

Like the loons, cardinals, northern mockingbirds and other aviary symphonies that fill the arrangements and inspired much of this music, the essence of Appalachia Borealis is to rise and meet the day as best as one can, no matter how unpredictable and strange the moment may seem. Through it all, Phil Cook challenges himself to explore new ways of playing and composing, after decades spent steeped in the worlds of folk, rock, bluegrass, gospel and blues, collaborating with everyone from Anaïs Mitchell, Hiss Golden Messenger, Hurray for the Riff Raff, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Waxahatchee to Bon Iver, Indigo Girls, The Japanese House, Mavis Staples, Nathaniel Rateliff and countless others; playing in bands such as DeYarmond Edison, Megafaun, Gayngs, Shouting Matches and more. In writing Appalachia Borealis, he allows the voices of his other instruments to be incorporated back into the piano – banjo rolls, fingerstyle open-tuned guitar, dobro slides – forming new connections between his hands and mind, the soul of himself and his listeners. 

While the album began on the edge of the forest in North Carolina's Piedmont region – where Phil Cook was greeted each morning by those choruses of bird songs, playing along to voice memos – Cook recorded the album at the April Base compound in April of 2024. He returned to the place he was raised in Wisconsin's Chippewa Valley, and asked his lifelong friend and bandmate, Justin Vernon, to produce Appalachia Borealis as simply as possible. But they experimented with the process, particularly in instances such as "Ambassador Cathedral": 

"'Ambassador Cathedral' is one of my favorites from the album. It contains a recording of cardinals from Brian Joseph's mixing studio in Eau Claire, WI. With the control room's sliding door open to the woods, we noticed the cardinals outside would sing when the music was playing and would stop when it ceased. We did this experiment several times and eventually recorded the birds singing along with the song as it was mixed and included it toward the end."

-Phil Cook

Watch the new video for "Ambassador Cathedral," by Daniel Fox Films:

HERE

This Sunday, March 23rd, at The Pinhook in Durham, NC, Phil Cook will present Appalachia Borealis alongside the in-person premiere of the album's full-length companion film, by Daniel Fox. Then, on March 27th at Big Ears Festival, Cook will begin a US tour, bringing songs that began on a windowsill to a much wider world. Following Big Ears, he will headline New York City's Le Poisson Rouge, Los Angeles'Gold-Diggers, and 15 other shows across the East Coast, Midwest and West Coast. Unfolding in three acts of audio, video and multimedia, each performance will reveal untold parts of his life, in hopes that the audience walks away feeling reconnected with themselves. Find the list of dates below, and tickets at philcookmusic.com.  

Appalachia Borealis Tracklist

Rise

Running

Two Hands In My Pocket

Wescott

Thrush Song

I Made A Lovers Prayer

Dawn Birds

Buffalo

Reliever

Ambassador Cathedral

Appalachia Borealis

Phil Cook Tour Dates

Mar 27 - Knoxville, TN - Big Ears Festival 

Apr 1 - Boston, MA - The Sinclair

Apr 2 - New York City, NY - Le Poisson Rouge

Apr 3 - Washington, DC - The Hamilton

Apr 4 - Richmond, VA - Spacebomb Studios

Apr 25 - Traverse City, IA - The Alluvion

Apr 26 - Grand Rapids, MI - Midtown GR

Apr 27 - Milwaukee, WI - Vivarium

Apr 30 - Minneapolis, MN - Icehouse

May 1 - Eau Claire, WI - The Masonic

May 2 - Evanston, IL - SPACE

May 3 - Princeton, WI - The Parlor Hotel

May 9 - La Jolla, CA - The Loft at UC San Diego

May 10 - Venice, CA - Townhouse

May 11 - Los Angeles, CA - Gold-Diggers

May 13 - Mill Valley, CA - Sweetwater Music Hall

May 14 - Portland, OR - Mission Theater

May 15 - Seattle, WA - Fremont Abbey

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For more information, contact Matt Hanks, Greg Jakubik or Grace Fleisher at

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