once again…

LP — 2021 23 July
WHR008

Produced by The Academy Blues Project
Engineered by Jim Bloom & ABP
Mixed by Jim Bloom, Trevor Brown and Ben Easton
Mastered by Dan Millice
Cover art by Meera Dugal

1 MIREPOIX

2 CHRISTOPH’S WALTZ

3 MOVE CLOSER TO YOUR WORLD

4 DON’T YA JUST WANNA CRY SOMETIMES?

5 THE TUNA CLUB

6 SPARKY

7 PART OF YOUR WORLD

8 M’JAWN

9 ONCE AGAIN

10 THE WRONG THING

The Academy Blues Project’s new summertime studio LP is ONCE AGAIN…, released on 23 July. The album is the second of three records that ABP will share in 2021.

ONCE AGAIN… is a bright and social record for a post pandemic world. The band set out to make a collection of vintage instrumental pop singles that could provide a jukebox “soundtrack” for the mercurial present moment: a time when friends and nations alike are phasing back toward the joys of reconnecting in person in the Summer of 2021.

As its title suggests, ONCE AGAIN… was recorded on the occasion of ABP’s own reunion as a band. The quartet got together for the first time in over a year on 14 June 2021 and captured the album in a single daylong session at the band’s 232 Studios. ABP sought to keep the new material feeling novel and instinctive through all junctures of making the record. The basic tracks were recorded in full, live takes, with mixing and mastering taking place in a span of eighteen days — all in an attempt to share the camaraderie of the recording session in the most direct way possible.

The record features ten brand new songs from The Academy Blues Project. Among them are seven original instrumentals, including “Don’t Ya Just Wanna Cry Sometimes?,” a revved-up, timely modern blues cut; “Sparky,” an organ-led ballad and invocation for the start of Side B; and “Mirepoix,” a soulful strut with big Car Wash Energy. In a first for ABP, ONCE AGAIN… also includes two covers, each aligned with the record’s communal instincts: “Move Closer To Your World,” the legendary local news theme of WPVI TV in Philadelphia (drummer Jim Bloom’s hometown); and an offbeat take on the Disney classic “Part of Your World,” which was released just in time for 4th of July BBQs as the album’s lead single. The record culminates with “The Wrong Thing,” the album’s sole track to feature vocals and a stirring final statement from the band.

Mixed and produced by ABP, mastered by Dan Millice and illustrated by Meera Dugal, The Academy Blues Project’s ONCE AGAIN… LP is available on listening platforms worldwide on 23 July 2021.