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Spoonful 09:58

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This is just a stream-only of one song from the LP. To order the whole thing and get FORTY MINUTES OF PRIMAL INDIE JAMBIENT, go to: jeffreyalexandertheheavylidders.bandcamp.com/album/elixor-of-life

RAVEN SINGS THE BLUES sez: "Seems almost backwards that the real introduction to Jeffrey Alexander’s Heavy Lidders this year has been the eponymous LP. While it’s an amazing album that bends the band in eclectic directions, devouring Meat Puppets and Dino Jr. touchstones, anyone who experienced the band live prior to that album was familiar with a bit of a different sound hung on the name. When The Lidders played a pre-pandemic RSTB anniversary in 2019 they were into some deep ozone grooves that took solo works from Alexander plus a few standards and drove them through psych-blooze excursions that crawled into the abyss. On their second album of the year Elixor of Life, the band returns to that fecund garden of groove to explore headier waters and hot-tar tangents. They pull back the screen to revel in the Willie Dixon classic “Spoonful,” — ever a source of exploratory jam territory — making it their own with a dive into the murk and mire for a damp take on the tune. The new album is out November 5th from Centripetal Force."

CENTRIPETAL FORCE sez: "Elixor of Life is the second album of 2021 for Jeffrey Alexander + The Heavy Lidders. The first, a self-titled affair, was released on Arrowhawk Records this past August and is well noted for its craftful songwriting and tight musicianship. For Alexander, someone known for his psychedelic meanderings in Dire Wolves and the experimental folk sounds of both The Iditarod and Black Forest/Black Sea, this was a departure from the norm. It is with the release of Elixor of Life that we see a different side of this Heavy Lidders project, one that is a bit more unbuttoned and relaxed. All of this isn’t to say that the sound and stylings of the group’s debut have been deserted, for the references to Neil Young’s Crazy Horse days remain omnipresent, as do the nods to Dinosaur Jr. and the Meat Puppets. This second album is a return to the wild abandon so to speak, albeit with a more mystical twist.

In 1694, the Transylvanian-born Johannes Kelpius, a man of great intellect and spirituality, settled in newly-founded Philadelphia. Joining him in establishing residence on the wooded hillsides overlooking Wissahickon Creek were dozens of other men who would become known as "The Society of the Woman in the Wilderness", a collective of meditational monks whose central tenets included the use of instrumental music as a mode for worship. It should come as no surprise then to learn that Jeffrey Alexander, who today lives mere steps from these mystic grounds, has tapped into the lore of this mysterious society. Alexander and his own band of spiritual wanderers not only practice the same kind of metaphysical transference with their music, a sort of elixor within itself, they also pay homage to Kelpius and his order with the aptly titled “Hermits of the Ridge”.

Alexander’s Heavy Lidders have always featured a variety of collaborators. Early iterations of the lineup included appearances from folks like Kryssi Battalene (Mountain Movers, Headroom), Marissa Nadler, and Jeff Tobias (Sunwatchers). For Elixor of Life, as well as the band’s self-titled album on Arrowhawk Records, The Heavy Lidders lineup has solidified and includes Jesse Shepherd (bass) and guitarist Drew Gardner (both of Elkhorn), as well drummer Scott Verrastro (Kohoutek). This core unit, like Alexander, is well-versed in the art of improvisation, and while Alexander and crew’s first album leans more towards a more structured and traditional songwriting approach, Elixor of Life plays into the group’s collective strength, the ability to create within the moment - and the willingness to expand their playing for the sake of making music a more devotional experience. "

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released November 5, 2021

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Jeffrey Alexander Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Founding member of The Iditarod in 1996, Black Forest/Black Sea in 2003 and Dire Wolves in 2008. Joined JOMF in 2013. Started The Heavy Lidders in 2019. Former label owner of Magic Eye Singles and Secret Eye Records. Also toured with and featured on recordings by Kemialliset Ystävät, Avarus, Es, Fursaxa, Christina Carter, Gravenhurst, Jeffrey Alexander-Andrea Belfi-Stefano Pilia Trio. ... more

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