Bailey Hart
Audio By Carbonatix
Last week, North Texas native Jonathan Tyler announced that his fourth full-length album, Underground Forever, will be available Oct. 28 via Timeless Echo Recordings.
Tyler has been slowly releasing singles from the album for the past two years, starting with the title track in April 2020, “Moon & Stars” in November 2021 and “Movin’ On” last month. Altogether, he has released six singles from the album, and a live version of the unreleased studio track “Magic Sam’s Boogie.”
“It’s like the most anticlimactic release ever,” Tyler says, referring to the fact that a large portion of the album has already been released via singles. “I just feel like there’s no rules. With the way things work these days, I just feel like you can do whatever you want. It’s just the way it kind of worked out.”
In a case of life imitating art, Tyler says the album was actually completed in early 2020 just prior to the pandemic lockdowns, but as the pandemic went on, it made sense to release the songs gradually as a reflection of where he was at personally.
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“‘Underground Forever’ felt like the beginning of the pandemic,” Tyler says. “Now it’s like ‘Movin’ On,’ the end of the pandemic. And then ‘Old Friend’ is like ‘One day we’ll remember these times’ – we’re going to see each other again. In a way, it’s kind of summing up the pandemic a little bit, artistically.”
Written in 2019, the lyrics to “Underground Forever” express Tyler’s frustration with media burnout, but they gained new meaning in the wake of the lockdown, as he sang: “Can we hide out in the hills where we could sleep until noon? I feel like I’m gonna break if I don’t get out pretty soon.”
Tyler is currently scheduled to perform at Tannahill’s Tavern & Music Hall in Fort Worth on Saturday, Oct. 29, to publicly commemorate the album’s release.
His last full-length LP, Holy Smokes, was released in 2015. Prior to that, Tyler released Pardon Me on Atlantic Records in 2010, and Hot Trottin’ independently in 2007 – both of which featured his former backing band The Northern Lights.
The majority of Underground Forever was recorded with producer Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck, The Vines, Toadies, Barrie-James O’Neill) at Mant Studio in Eagle Rock, California. Tyler says there are no immediate plans for a physical release, although that may change. “Maybe,” he says. “I’m not rushing to do it.”
Watch the video for “Underground Forever” below:
