Envy Alo, the up-and-coming funk outfit from Denver, will release a new full-length studio album “Ship It” on all major platforms on Friday, January 17th. In support of the LP, the band will throw an Album Release Party the following night, Saturday, January 18th with Monk Gyatso at Lost Lake in Denver, with a Mountain West tour to follow.
Recorded at Evergroove Studio in Evergreen, CO over the course of 2019, “Ship It” is Envy Alo’s first full-length studio album since 2018’s Cruise Control and beautifully captures the band’s polished, eclectic sound of recent months. While on the surface Envy Alo is a six-piece funk ensemble--Callie Morrocco on lead vocals, Aaron Pettine on keyboards, Kevin Hinder on guitar, Kevin Supina on saxophones and vocals, Karl Summers on bass, and Nate Etter on drums--”Ship It” finds the band treading into uncharted, genre-defying territory. The eleven-track odyssey holds a groove and your attention, but dives between waves of soul, R&B, Afro-Cuban, drum & bass, blues, jazz, heavy rock, and of course funk, while still maintaining a cohesive final product.
As saxophonist Kevin Supina attests, “This album truly feels like a culmination of the last few years of the bands evolution, growing from four members to six. The title track actually started as an instrumental a few years ago and had been shelved for a while, but we dusted it off, Nate wrote some lyrics, and we totally rearranged it. I think that really encapsulates the changes we’ve gone through. All six members of the band have writing credits on the album, and our time in the studio was a truly collaborative effort. We had been playing most of the material live for a while before we got to the studio, allowing the songs time to evolve and everyone to find their unique voice on everything. Brad also helped us immensely in refining and realizing the vision we had for the album.”
Brad Smalling, owner of Evergroove Studio, engineered, mixed and mastered “Ship It.” The album also features guest musicians to create it’s full sound. Denver-based percussionist Will Trask (Great American Taxi, The High Hawks, Analog Son) is prominent on almost every track, with subtle layers of shaker and tambourine giving way to a handful of brilliant flashes on timbale, congas, and wood blocks. Taking cues from horn arrangements composed by Supina, the Mercenary Horns--brothers Mark and Matt Wilkolak--also put their stamp on the album with rich harmonies on trombone and trumpet respectively.
Envy Alo’s Album Release Party for “Ship It” will be on Saturday, January 18th, a day after release, with Monk Gyatso at Lost Lake in Denver. Tickets can still be purchased here, though the show is expected to sell out. Following Lost Lake, the band will play Snowstalk on January 25th supporting the Magic Beans and Kyle Hollingsworth Band and will head out on a Mountain West Tour through Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah and Colorado in March.
“Ship It” by Envy Alo Track List
Begs… (Pettine)
Wind Tunnel (Supina)
Only Way (Hinder)
Ship It (Pettine/Etter)
Railroad Boogie (Morrocco/Summers)
…&... (Pettine)
Give In To The Light (Hinder)
Don’t Wanna Wait (Supina)
Be Good (Morrocco/Summers)
Trust (Supina)
...Achin (Pettine)
