Chicago songwriter and guitarist James Elkington—who has collaborated with everyone from Richard Thompson to Jeff Tweedy to Tortoise—recorded his sophomore album at Wilco’s Loft, expanding upon his celebrated 2017 debut Wintres Woma (PoB-034) as well as his recent production and arrangement work for the likes of Steve Gunn, Nap Eyes, and Joan Shelley. Casting glances back to British folk traditions as well as toward avant-garde horizons, these brilliant new songs, as accessible as they are arcane, buttress Elkington’s brisk guitar figures and baritone poesy with strings, woodwinds, and backing vocals by Tamara Lindeman of the Weather Station.
Highlights
- James Elkington’s extraordinary follow-up to his acclaimed solo debut Wintres Woma (2017) was recorded at Wilco’s Loft and features Tamara Lindeman of the Weather Station, Spencer Tweedy (Tweedy), and Paul Von Mertens (Brian Wilson).
- Deluxe LP edition features 140g virgin vinyl; heavy-duty board jacket; full-color inner sleeve and labels; and high-res Bandcamp download code.
- Deluxe green glass vinyl LP edition is limited to 750 copies.
- CD edition features gatefold board jacket with LP replica art.
- RIYL Bert Jansch, Kevin Ayers, Richard Thompson, Davy Graham, Joan Shelley, Steve Gunn, Michael Chapman, Mike Cooper, Nap Eyes, Ryley Walker, Jim O’Rourke, Scott Walker, Go-Betweens, Talk Talk.
- Artist page/tour dates/back catalog
Physical format music purchases from the PoB webstore and Bandcamp include digital downloads when feasible. Some, but not all, pre-2023 vinyl pressings also include a download coupon. For digital preorders and high-resolution digital downloads, please visit our Bandcamp page.
Tracklist
A1. “Nowhere Time” 4:25
A2. “Sleeping Me Awake” 3:02
A3. “Leopards Lay Down” 3:47
A4. “Moon Tempering” 3:13
A5. “Rendlesham Way” 4:14
B1. “Late Jim’s Lament” 2:54
B2. “Carousel” 2:50
B3. “Go Easy on October” 3:02
B4. “Ever-Roving Eye” 4:41
B5. “Much Master” 4:24
Catalog Number/Release Date
PoB-050 / Digital: 4/3/2020 | Physical: 5/22/20
Purchase from PoB above or support via
- Bandcamp (LP/Green glass LP/CD/DL)
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More from James Elkington
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James Elkington and Nathan Salsburg: All Gist
$13.00 – $30.00Weight N/A FORMAT CD: $13, Green LP: $23, Green LP+CD: $31, LP: $22, LP+CD: $30, MP3: $9
Album Narrative
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- Photo by Timothy Musho.
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- Photo by Timothy Musho.
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- Photo by Timothy Musho.
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- Photo by Timothy Musho.
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- Photo by Timothy Musho.
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- Photo by Timothy Musho.
Maybe you have a friend or two who manages to succeed at doing the things they lay out for themselves to do. They’re good to have—if you’re not a total sociopath, your friend’s successes will instill joy and satisfaction in you, and you might find that your friend inspires you to labor harder and more lovingly in your own involvements. (This of course best functions symbiotically, and friends will pull each other along the lumpy bumpy road of life and work like those plastic monkeys in the barrel with the interlocking arms. This fact is immaterial to this writing.) James Elkington is a friend of mine, and I have long enjoyed and indeed found satisfaction from witnessing the juicy fruits of his successful labors.
Jim moved to the United States in the late ’90s from his native England with the intention of making himself absolutely essential to the Chicago music scene. Twenty years later he’s contributed to a staggering volume of records and shows and projects both in Chicagoland (see Jeff Tweedy; Tortoise; Eleventh Dream Day; Brokeback) and far from it (see Richard Thompson; Laetitia Sadier; Michael Chapman; Steve Gunn; Joan Shelley; Nap Eyes). The 2017 release of the wonderful Wintres Woma, his first so-called solo album, seemed to be a logical, healthy respite from assisting with the creative needs of others that would allow him to serve his own. The record certainly sounded as though James found in it every reason to be satisfied—among much else, it effectively reconciled his personal and musical mongreltude as a child of Britain and a man of America—and thus could return his focus to bettering other folks’ records.
But as satisfaction doesn’t exist in the past tense, and the present doesn’t exist, and he barreled on ahead: namely with, in the midst of everything else, composing, arranging, and recording an album that could adequately only be called one thing, Ever-Roving Eye. Though it sounds like a line culled from a murderous Child ballad, the title has everything to do instead with the slipperiness of satisfaction, and the equal parts virtue and vice that is being your own mule and driver. (And that somehow calls to mind a quote ascribed to Colette, whether she actually said it or not: “No one expects you to be happy. Just get your work done.”) The songs and their titles similarly bear this out: the first single, “Nowhere Time” is a call to take up arms against procrastination and just get your work done, and features some of Elkington’s most daring guitar-wrangling, echoing his hero Richard Thompson in the thick of the 1970s. (Jim is responsible for some of the ’00s most memorable guitar solos, though till now they’ve only been on other folks’ albums.) “Sleeping Me Awake” is a finger-style confession of the fear of never being prepared (lyrics written while James was worriedly preparing to sub for Jeff Parker on a Tortoise tour). Second single “Late Jim’s Lament” is a white-knuckled nightmare about being late (because he’s rarely on time) and about being “late” (because of an even greater fear of being dead before he gets everything done). “No matter how I drive I know I can’t out-drive the hearse, ’cause it’s too late in my mind and getting later all the time,” sings Elkington, sounding not unlike his other hero, Davy Graham, shouldering his way into a Joy Division rehearsal.
Meticulously planned and quickly tracked (the Elkingtonian way), it includes Wintres Woma alumni Nick Macri (James’ longtime bass colleague) and Macie Stewart (violin), plus new recruits Lia Kohl (cello), Spencer Tweedy (drums), The Weather Station’s Tamara Lindeman (vocals), and the prolific Paul Von Mertens (Brian Wilson) on woodwinds. Where the first record was more firmly situated in the sonic tradition of England’s more interesting 1970s folk revivalists, Eye engages in a broader wrassle, roping in echoes of British library musics, horror-film soundtracks, demure psychedelia, and more rocking elements of folk-rock. The result is a record even more elaborate, shrewd, thoughtful and confessional than its predecessor.
I don’t know if James is now satisfied—actually, of course I do, and he’s not. And thank god for it. Ever-Roving Eye is instead a sublime distillation of the humane wisdom of a dude who’ll never be; the dude who sings on the single, “Nowhere Time”: “There’s a master plan somebody understands / And I wish that one was me.” It might well cast a pox on the concept of satisfaction altogether. Though it still satisfies the hell out of me.
— Nathan Salsburg, Louisville, December 2019
Videos and Streaming
Acknowledgements
9/10 (Album of the Month). The triumph that Wintres Woma hinted at … his richest, most complete effort yet. What immediately sets the record apart from many of its counterparts, even from Elkington’s debut, is its swing. An outstanding record from a humble collaborator, a leisurely developer, a man forever caught somewhere between Chorleywood and Chicago.
– Uncut
4 stars (Filter lead review). Chicago folk rock’s MVP. Crisp études … subsumed into an elaborate, woody matrix.
– MOJO
James Elkington continues to mix gorgeous Bert Jansch-like guitar lines with prime 6 Music melodies. Ever-Roving Eye is his best album yet, his lazy, heated vocals helping songs such as Carousel and Nowhere Time burrow deep in the brain (fans of Bill Callahan and Wilco, listen up).
– The Guardian
On the follow-up to his 2017 debut, the Chicago guitarist ventures beyond his folk roots, sounding looser and freer than ever. These new songs savor a wider variety of sounds, like the prismatic strings and woodwinds that flutter just under the surface of “Tempering Moon,” or the pile-up of voices on the psychedelic title track… Lyrically, Elkington remains an eccentric songwriter, given to playful turns of phrase as ornate as they are cryptic. The unstoppable passage of time is his primary theme, and he’s found an intriguing way of addressing it through his music: Ever-Roving Eye collapses time as Elkington combines elements from previous projects into his current folk palette.
– Pitchfork
Elkington’s music strikes a warm traditional tone, with echoes of Pentangle in his agile playing, his warm vocal tone, and the half-blues, half-traditional British tenor of his songs… Wintres Woma in 2018 and now Ever-Roving Eye [are] both warm and gorgeous, studded with striking lyrical imagery, arresting melodies and intriguing musical intervals.
– PopMatters
Elkington’s guitar chops are such that he has done session work for Richard Thompson, among others, and his intricate acoustic fingerpicking underpins these sturdy songs, as do subtle melodies built to last.
– Associated Press
Like Wintres Woma, the album is rooted in elegant folk with mesmerizing fingerpicked guitar and leans on Elkington’s expressive, dusky baritone. Songs like the subverted Laurel Canyon-styled pop of “Leopards Lay Down” reveal cryptic but compelling flashes of Elkington’s dark wit. Overall, however, the songs on Ever-Roving Eye are more hot-blooded and propulsive.
– Chicago Sun-Times
4 stars. Another brilliant album… Full of cryptic lyrics and highly skilled musicianship, it’s a wonderfully engaging record that will no doubt appear in the Best Albums of the Year lists come December.
– The Morning Star
4 stars. A low-key, slow-burn delight.
– The Guardian
Another beautifully understated collection full of stark introspection, stylistic nuance, and elegant guitar craft… he absolutely dazzles across the entire set.
– AllMusic
Such cryptic genius!
– Folk Radio UK
If his mind is in a stir, the music that frames his musings feels unfailingly effortless. More than ever before, he’s put those same skills that enable him to make other people’s music sound so good at the service of his own songs.
– Dusted
British-born but US-based, Elkington has so far been best known for his work on records by the likes of Michael Chapman and Joan Shelley. His latest upcoming solo album, a stunning mix of Americana and psychedelic folk, is likely to change that.
– Uncut
First, Chicago-based English guitarist extraordinaire James Elkington built up a sterling reputation for himself as a sideman for the likes of Jeff Tweedy, Joan Shelley, Richard Thompson, Steve Gunn, Nap Eyes, Michael Chapman, and Tortoise. Then, with 2017 debut Wintres Woma, he proved he’s a skilled singer-songwriter in addition to his instrumental mastery. This spring, he’ll show off those talents again on his second LP, Ever-Roving Eye.
– Stereogum
The combination of Elkington’s sonorous baritone and virtuosic fretboard forays makes a strong case for him as the spiritual heir to the late UK folk legend Bert Jansch. The dominant artistic voice here is an unflinchingly singular one… with imagery unusual enough to force your synapses into new configurations, and a bittersweetness palpable enough to take you by the tear ducts and squeeze. Each track feels like a stylishly scrawled diary entry we’ve somehow wrangled the permission to read.
–NPR Music
An epiphany… a cryptic storyteller and dazzling acoustic guitarist. More than just another bustle in your hedgerow.
– Rolling Stone
Elkington stands apart among the wave of 21st century guitar soloists. At once beautiful, complex, and assured.
– Pitchfork
A convincing, warmly whirling weather system of his own.
– The Guardian
The guitar king … already a visionary in his own right.
– The FADER
Elkington has been acclaimed by such knowledgeable figures as Richard Thompson and Jeff Tweedy as one of the most dazzling fingerstyle guitarists around—a reputation confirmed here.
– The Independent
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