Exclusive track premiere of ‘Fragile Line’ by Zachary Cale, taken from the upcoming album ‘Next Year’s Ghost,’ out May 24, 2024 via Org Music.

Zachary Cale’s upcoming album, ‘Next Year’s Ghost,’ dropping on May 24th, marks a significant shift in his musical style, with a fresh focus on piano-driven tracks. The new record reflects the isolation and uncertainty experienced during the pandemic, with a mix of tension and serenity. Backed by an impressive roster of collaborators like Shahzad Ismaily and Jeremy Gustin, Cale’s latest work explores the concept of time and the paradox of urgency during a period that felt endlessly still. The album’s unique energy and evolving textures showcase Cale’s ability to transform his sound while staying true to his signature voice and songwriting craft.

<a href="https://zacharycale.bandcamp.com/album/next-years-ghost">Next Year’s Ghost by Zachary Cale</a>

Zachary Cale shared his perspective on the themes and inspiration behind “Fragile Line”: “It’s an easy enough metaphor. Everything in that time period felt especially fragile. It took a pandemic for a lot of us to realize just how temporary everything is. And in all that isolation I spent a lot of time looking backwards: the road reversed. It’s a super simple song. That repeated phrase is almost a mantra. I really got into the most basic chord changes for this album, probably in part due to my limited ability on the piano but also just to write as simply and plainly as possible. No extra verbiage. No crammed notes. It’s a I, IV, V chord change which is basically every rock ‘n’ roll song ever made. 12 bar blues, etc. Except I somehow found this little jewel of a riff in there. The melodic line holds the whole tune together!”

Cale’s new eight-song album is the follow-up to Org Music’s release of 2022’s ‘Skywriting’, and marks his first turn to piano-based songs and includes contributions from Shahzad Ismaily (Bob Dylan, Marc Ribot), Jeremy Gustin (The Ah, Delicate Steve, Okkervil River), Uriah Theriault (Woodsy Pride), and others. The album is informed by the isolation and uncertainty of the pandemic, possessing a stillness that recalls those lost, lonely days spent in quarantine. It meditates on the strange elasticity of time, but at the edges a tense pulse beats, capturing what it felt like to have to live without urgency in a deeply urgent time.

Headline photo: Alfra Martini

Zachary Cale Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp / YouTube
Org Music Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp / YouTube