The absurdly prolific Neil Young — four studio albums so far this decade (including one already from 2014), for those keeping count — just can’t stop/won’t stop releasing new material. After the lowest-fi of April’s A Letter Home, old Neil’s announced a new album for this November, titled Storeytone. He’s not doing it alone this time, either: There’s a 92-piece orchestra and choir in tow for at least one song, a new version of pro-environment anthem “Who’s Gonna Stand Up?” which he’s shared via Soundcloud.
Pitchfork points out that Neil has previously expressed his desire to make such a recording, explaining his vision to Billboard:
I’d like to make a record with a full-blown orchestra, live—a mono recording with one mic. … I want to do something like that where we really record what happened, with one point of view and the musicians moved closer and farther away, the way it was done in the past. To me that’s a challenge and it’s a sound that’s unbelievable, and you can’t get it any other way. So I’m into doing that.
A challenge indeed, but Neil never was one to make pragmatism a priority. After this, he’ll have gone about as lo-fi and hi-fi as humanly possible, so we look forward to his reasonably produced, modestly arranged third album sometime in late December.
