Bitter Honey

Description

Bitter Honey is the new album by Eric Silverman. Produced in collaboration with Damien Lewis, the album finds Silverman leaving behind the acid-fried desert rock of 2023s Stay In It for something far more lush and expansivea collection of ten psychedelic rock, pop, and folk tracks inspired by Peter Gabriel, John Cale, and Jeff Tweedy. Fittingly, the album is named after the mad honey of the rhododendron flower, a rare and potent hallucinogenic found high in the Himalayas.

The process of writing and recording the album started in early 2023, when Silverman and longtime collaborator Lewis retreated to a cabin near Nevada City, CA. Over the course of a week they sketched out the bones of nearly half the album, with Silverman recording the guitar solo for album opener Anthropocene live in one take during a particularly inspired moment. Meanwhile, Get In Where You Fit In, inspired by a bumper sticker Silverman saw heading up the mountain, was recorded on Jerry Garcias old 8-track tape machine and features pedal steel by Jake (Freeman) DeJongh. While at the cabin they also captured the field recordings that bookend the album, starting with the intro of Anthropocene and ending with the outro of Bitter Honey an infinite loop.

Later on they decamped to Palomino Sound in LA for a round of sessions tracking Light Me Up and Trapped In Reverse while making use of the prodigious assortment of vintage instruments at their disposal, including a 65 Wurlitzer electric piano that became the centerpiece of a number of tracks. Eventually the pair ended up at 2200 Studios (formerly The Record Plant) in Sausalito, CAa legendary studio where Prince, The Grateful Dead, and Fleetwood Mac made classic records. It was there that they tracked New Light, featuring strings by brothers Graham and Lewis Patzner; recorded all of Adam MacDougalls (The Black Crowes, Circles Around the Sun) overdubs, including his synth leads on Living the Dream; and mixed the album in Studio A.

In a lot of ways Bitter Honey is Silvermans first proper studio album. Its also the first time Silverman has sat in the producers chair, this time around sharing the credit with Lewis. While his debut album was a product of its environment, all first takes and raw energy, Bitter Honey is thoughtful and focused, the best work Silverman has done and the culmination of his decade plus creative partnership with Lewis.

Highly anticipated sophomore album from Eric Silverman. Press coverage includes reviews and features in Raven Sings the Blues, and more.

threading the quicksilver needle of psych, AOR, and 70s Cocaine Cowboy territory. Raven Sings the Blues.