Today Kendall Street Company reveal Ninurta, the first installment from their double LP space opera The Year the Earth Stood Still. Available for preview exclusively on Top Shelf Music before it hits streaming platforms this Friday, the all instrumental pop-ambient collection is an eerily appropriate deviation from the band’s former work and represents the precarious circumstances of the last year.
A successor to the delicately crafted 2020 release The Stories We Write for Ourselves, Ninurta showcases the band’s tremendous versatility from studio to stage. With the pandemic seizing all normal affairs and the prospect of touring off the table, the five piece saw an opportunity to embrace the unusual conditions and seek new creative direction. “After a year of dedicated work on behalf of our last release, we felt called to start from the ground up on a new project with no preconceived expectations,” explains saxophonist Jake Vanaman. “This concept of building an album from scratch is an idea we had been talking about as early as 2016 while learning about the magic that can take place in a studio environment. Without the pandemic, I’m not so sure we would have taken that deliberate pause to make such a project happen.”
With the help of producer John Trainum, whose work includes collaborations with fast-rising indie pop songwriter Kate Bollinger, KSC set up shop at White Star Studio in nearby Louisa, VA for five days of nonstop improvisational sessions. Charged by the delirium of minimal sleep and the strangely paranormal impression of rural northeast Virginia, the band dove head first into philosophical discourse spanning everything from ancient folklore to dystopian realities. On the second night of recording, while arranging a new tune in the atypical 7/4 time signature, a tumultuous thunderstorm left the neighborhood without electricity for 24 hours, nearly destroying the studio computer. With recording on pause until power was restored – and the fate of their work in limbo – the crew indulged in a tailspin of research on primordial mythology and the significance of the number 7. Their findings led them to Ninurta – a Mesopotamian deity whose mighty wrath manifests in deadly thunder and rain. Affirmed by the serendipity, the force majeure eventually became a focal point of the record.
“Dystopian themes of escapism and mysticism reflect the apocalyptic nature of the pandemic and the thunderstorm that fried the studio computer. This, naturally, led to the 50's, a golden era in Hollywood sci-fi and musings on the classic film The Day the Earth Stood Still. The ideas fell into place as we listened more closely to what we had created in the studio. It was as if we were narrating the events happening before us in real time.”
An epic eight track saga of emotive soundscape, Ninurta is strong in its ability to capture current realities without ever uttering a word – its foreboding undertones a perfect encapsulation of the dark years behind with plenty of room for future interpretation. The companion album, Inertia, which completes the story The Year the Earth Stood Still is due for release on September 24. To listen to Ninurta in its entirety before it hits DSPs on June 11, click here.
Kendall Street Company sets sail for The Year the Earth Stood Still tour this Friday, June 11, with stops in Charlottesville, Nashville, New York, DC, Philadelphia, and multiple festival appearances including Resonance Music and Arts Festival and Rooster Walk Reunion. A complete list of tour dates is below.
Ninurta Track List
1. Our Space Heroine
2. Picking Apples Off the Apple Tree
3. The Space Race
4. Pink Flying Saucer
5. On Call
6. Doomsday
7. There is no such thing as free will.
Kendall Street Company The Year the Earth Stood Still Tour
06/11 - 185 King Street - Brevard, NC*
06/19 - Licking Hole Creek - Goochland, VA
06/25 - O’Connor Brewing - Norfolk, VA
07/03 - IX Art Park - Charlottesville, VA
07/09 - Lenny Boy - Charlotte, NC
07/10 - Salvage Station - Asheville, NC+
07/23 - Bear Legacy Bluegrass Festival - Bel Air, MD
07/24 - Bear Legacy Bluegrass Festival - Bel Air, MD
07/29 - The Pour House - Raleigh, NC#
07/30 - The Palm Room - Wrightsville Beach, NC#
07/31 - The Palm Room - Wrightsville Beach, NC#
08/01 - The Plant Live - Savannah, GA
08/05 - Basement East - Nashville, TN%
08/06 - Smith’s Olde Bar - Atlanta, GA%
08/07 - Steppin’ Out Festival - Blacksburg, VA
08/26 - North Street Press Club - Farmville, VA
08/27 - North Street Press Club - Farmville, VA
09/02 - Georgia Theatre - Athens, GA
09/03 - Windjammer - Isle of Palms
09/24 - Milk Boy - Philadelphia, PA
09/16-19 - Resonance Music and Arts Festival - Thornville, OH
09/25 - Union Stage - Washington, DC+
09/26 - Union Stage - Washington, DC+
09/29 - Wonder Bar - Asbury Park, NJ
09/30 - Brooklyn Bowl - Brooklyn NY
10/01 - BRYAC - Bridgeport, CT
10/02 - Appalachian Brewing - Harrisburg, PA
10/08 - Rooster Walk Reunion - Martinsville, VA
10/13 - The Black Sheep - Colorado Springs, CO
10/14 - Chippers Lanes - Ft. Collins, CO
10/15 - Cervantes Other Side - Denver, CO
10/16 - Cervantes Other Side - Denver, CO
10/17 – Old Town Pub - Steamboat Springs, CO
10/20 - Gabe’s - Iowa City, IA
10/21 - The Point - Chicago, IL
10/22 - The Summit - Columbus, OH
*w/ Life Like Water
+w/ Hustle Souls
#w/ Sexbruise
%w/ The Aquaducks
