With every new release, Elijah McLaughlin’s earthen and folk-based sound evolves into something more complex, diverse and daring. Working with long-time friend, collaborator and producer, Caleb Willitz, and a roster of dynamic greats from all across the free improv ecosystem of their Chicago home, McLaughlin created a wholly unique and exciting beast. On the ever effervescent Morning Improvisations / Evening Abstractions, elements of avant-garde jazz, post-rock minimalism and hand-sculpted musique concrète blend together into an extension of the heavily textured thickets of fingerpicked fantasias that populated the guitarist’s early records.

I spoke with McLaughlin and Willitz a few months ago about the album and how it was created, and here’s some of that conversation now:

How is it that you two ended up working together on this project?

Elijah McLaughlin: Caleb and I have been friends since 2010.  I first met Caleb while recording at his old studio in Humboldt Park.  Caleb recorded the albums of a couple of musical projects I was involved with around this time, and he ended up playing bass in one of these projects for a bit. Around 2014, I took a couple years off from playing music.  However in around 2018 I began playing guitar in alternate tunings and was reinspired to write/record, soon after the music for the first Elijah Mclaughlin Ensemble LP was prepared, and I reached out to Caleb to see if he would record the group.  At the time, he was just establishing a new studio in the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago. He had recently refurbished an 8 track reel-to-reel tape machine that sounded great and we began recording the album to tape. Caleb recorded/mixed all three of the EME albums at the Fine Arts Building studio from 2018-2022.

Caleb Willitz: I’ve been in Chicago as a recording engineer / producer since about 2005. I’ve had a couple of recording studios, and I also make records of performances in clubs, and venues. I’ve always gravitated towards working with the free-jazz and improvising musician

EM: Around the recording of the second EME album, Caleb and I began to get together fairly regularly and freely improvise using the instrumentation of electric guitar and acoustic piano.  

Over a number of these sessions we established a workflow/recording process/  and a sound which we deemed was worthy of a proper album. The best takes from our improvised sessions were set aside, and we would edit the takes and both overdub and arrange the material into song structures.  We intentionally left space within some of these tracks for guest musicians, and we brought in a number of incredible improvisers from the Chicago music scene to add their sound to the music.  Charles Rumback’s playing along with the contributions of Jason Stein, and Edward Wilkerson Jr., and  Josh Johannpeter really elevated the music on the album. 

Was there anything unique/significant about how the album came together? Was there a defined vision? Was it organic?

EM: One thing that was unique for me was the emphasis on free improv. I was really drawn to the process of recording free improvisations in roughly 25 minute segments of audio (this is the length of the tape reel for the machine at the studio) and capturing the magic/freshness of a new idea in real time.  This can be a rather painstaking way to record, however it yields some great results.  Once the “core” or foundation of a potential song is captured, it then becomes a matter of honing that sound, and letting the music tell you where it wants to go. A lot of this is getting yourself out of the way, and being open to letting the music lead in an organic way.

Also, there is something really nice about recording to tape. There can be some happy accidents. During the track “Good Fortune” you can hear the tape reel run out during the end of that improvisation. It’s pretty interesting what the tape did sonically to the audio as the last bit winds off the reel. We just left this as-is to be the natural ending of the song, an interesting ending that feels kind of perfect in its own way.

What are the themes and/or ideas that can be found on the album?

EM: There were certain sounds we gravitated toward for these recordings.  The electric guitar was recorded in stereo running to both a silverface Fender twin from the 70’s, and a little Fender champ. The piano was recorded with a tape delay.

CW: Since Eli and I had access to my studio, we were able to take our time as we were not “on the clock” and thinking of money. We really treated the “studio” in this case like a creative toy, rather than a tool for documenting. Like Eli already mentioned, the core (foundational) improvisations were captured on a Tascam 48ob 8-track machine in 25 minute reels. We were also able to experiment and create unique miking techniques on the guitar and piano. My piano setup for this project involves being able to control the tape delay with a foot pedal in real-time as I’m playing.

What were the influences and inspirations that inform the sound/direction of the album?

EM: During the early sessions of this record, I was discovering a lot of Indian classical music that was new to me, [specifically] from the Carnatic tradition of Southern India. Albums such as Lalgudi Jayaraman’s Violin, Venu, Veena. Others albums that were on constant rotation from this time were Sonny Sharrock’s Ask the Ages, Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock, and Laurie Spiegel’s The Expanding Universe.

What do you feel are the highlights of the album? What are you hoping people notice? If you could direct the listener to specific parts of the album, what would they be and why?

EM: I just hope that the energy of the music resonates with people.  I feel there is something worthwhile in each of these songs. Each track on this album was carefully curated, and was chosen because it conveyed something that creatively sparked our interest, or just felt right, and fit within the overarching vibe of the music that we were interested in creating.  I am very glad to be putting this music out into the world as I feel this album has something to offer to those who take the time to listen.

CW: I agree with what Eli is saying, “I just hope that the energy of the music resonates with people”. Every listener is going to get a different feeling from the record. I think what attracts me to this project is the tension between freewheeling improvisation, and the meticulously crafted compositional aspects. This balancing act is what does it for me when I listen.

Big thanks to Elijah and Caleb for their time and for the incredible music. Click here to order your copy of Morning Improvisations / Evening Abstractions from Centripetal Force on vinyl or digital. If you need more improvisations and abstractions for your day, Milwaukee Taper captured the duo’s sonic alchemy live at this year’s Milwaukee Psych Fest, so keep an eye on his site for that recording to drop soon.