Yo La Tengo Release Quarantine-Made Instrumental LP ‘We Have Amnesia Sometimes’

Yo La Tengo have corralled their recent string of new tracks for an instrumental album titled We Have Amnesia Sometimes, which the long-running New Jersey band created during a week of socially distanced recording sessions this past spring.

The album’s five improvisational tracks are available to stream now at Yo La Tengo’s recently launched Bandcamp page; a vinyl release for the album is forthcoming.

Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan and James McNew recorded We Have Amnesia Sometimes’ five compositions over a 10-day stretch from late April to early May amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“If you’ve spent any time hanging out with us at our rehearsal space in Hoboken — that pretty much covers none of you — you’ve heard us playing formlessly (he said, trying to sidestep the word ‘improvising’).  Most of the songs we’ve written in the last 25 years have begun that way, but often we do it for no other reason than to push away the outside world,” Kaplan said of the collection in a statement. “In late April, with the outside world weighing on everybody, we determined that the three of us could assemble in Hoboken without disobeying the rules laid out by [New Jersey] Governor Murphy, and resumed… ‘practicing’ hardly describes it, because we’ve done no practicing per se, and anyway what would we be practicing for… playing. James set up one microphone in the middle of the room in case we stumbled on something useful for the future. Instead, we decided to release some of the things we did right now.”

Yo La Tengo last released There’s a Riot Going On in 2018. Additionally, the band has planned a pair of We Have Amnesia Sometimes livestreams on July 18th at 9 p.m. EST and July 19th at 1 p.m. EST. Tickets for the performances are available to purchase for $10, with all proceeds from the gigs benefitting the Brennan Center for Justice.

We Have Amnesia Sometimes Tracklist

1. James and Ira demonstrate mysticism and some confusion holds (Monday)
2. Georgia thinks it’s probably OK (Tuesday)
3. James gets up and watches mourning birds with Abraham (Wednesday)
4. Georgia considers the two blue ones (Thursday)
5. Ira searches for the slide, sort of (Friday)