more from
Ruination Record Co.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Bones & Structure

by Edith Judith

/
  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Bones & Structure via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 14 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $22 USD or more 

     

  • Cassette + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Bones & Structure via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 14 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $9 USD  or more

     

1.
Carry 04:17 video
Daughter of a mother’s son, I see my father Bones and structure, two are one I am my mother. They carry me, I carry them with me I carry them on To carry me on, they carry me, I carry things that will outlast me. Daughter of a mother’s son, I see my father Bones and structure, two are one I am my mother. Hold my father’s history around my finger Warmth my mother kept for me around my shoulders They carry me, I carry them with me I carry them on To carry me on, they carry me, I carry things that will outlast me. They carry me, I carry them with me I carry them on To carry me on, they carry me, I carry things that will outlast me. (oooh) They carry me, I carry them with me I carry them on To carry me on, they carry me, I carry things that will outlast me. To carry me on, they carry me, I carry things that will outlast me.
2.
Bridge 04:22
Bridge You said you dreamed last night of crossing a bridge. I thought we’d wait awhile, til things could settle down. We caught ourselves dancing slow, to shift our wait around. We’re not going anywhere. Well worn wanderings through streets that aren’t our own I have visions of us there, and here, and everywhere. We’re not going anywhere. I’ve had visions of a riverbed. I’ve had visions of a riverbed. I’ve had visions of a riverbed. I’ve had visions of a riverbed. You said you dreamed last night of crossing a bridge.
3.
Strange 02:47
Strange, how the light changes Watch now: it rearranges. Stoic poet, what mysteries do you have to share? Won’t I know it? When you leave, I’ll still be there. Strange, how the light changes Watch now: it rearranges. Brilliant, beaming, on display for all to see Will your meaning find a way to stay with me? Still, as the light lingers Watch how it slips through fingers (light, light, light, light, light)
4.
Heartbreaker 03:46
I, always Wanted just a little more Want it just a little more You Only Needed just a little time Wanted just a little more (only, you) I always wanted just a little more You only needed just a little time. I always want it just a little more. You only needed just a little time. (time) Oooh (time) Oooh We’ve had More than A little Time We’ve had more than a little time We’ve had (just a little) More than a little (more) time We’ve had (just a little) More than a little (more) time We’ve had (just a little more than) a little time. I always wanted just a little more You only needed just a little time. I always want it just a little more, You only needed just a little time We’ve had More than A little Time.
5.
Sleep on, peaceful beast Open not your eyes Do not think of me, Do not think of me. Sleep on, peaceful beast Feel your heavy head Sink into the silence Do not think of me. Like a dream that fades with dawn, When you wake I will be gone. Sleep on, peaceful beast Feel your heavy head Sink into the silence, Do not think of me. Like a dream that fades with dawn, When you wake I will be gone.
6.
Hot Lava 02:08
Hot Lava Keep it moving Keep it going Keep it open Keep it up in the air Keep it off the ground (That’s just how I can be) Keep it safe and sound (I don’t take it lightly) Keep it in the air (Making big things so small) Take it everywhere (You won’t see them at all) Keep it off the ground (That’s just how I can be) Keep it safe and sound (I don’t take it lightly) Keep it in the air (Making big things so small) Take it everywhere (You won’t see them at all) Keep it moving Keep it going Keep it up in the air
7.
Luna 04:42
The moon is the earth’s only moon The moon is the earth’s only moon The moon is the earth’s only moon The moon is the earth’s only moon The moon is in synchronous rotation with earth, Meaning the same side is always facing the earth The moon is moving away from earth The moon is drifting away The moon is moving away from earth Away from earth Away The moon is the earth’s only moon.
8.
Flesh & Bone 03:39
Until there is nothing left for me Until there is nothing left for me, Sun will rise and sun will fall Oh, the roundness of it all. Until there is nothing left for me. Sun will rise and sun will fall, Oh, the roundness of it all. Would you rather see the forest for the trees? Would you gather up your thoughts and follow me? Could it lead us to a place that isn’t home? Can we replicate the warmth of flesh and bone? Until there is nothing left for me? (until there is nothing left for me) Sun will rise and sun will fall Oh, the roundness of it all Until there is nothing left for me. Would you rather see the forest for the trees? Would you gather up your thoughts and follow me? Could it lead us to a place that isn’t home? Can we replicate the warmth of flesh and bone? Until there is nothing left for me. Would you rather see the forest for the trees? Would you gather up your thoughts and follow me? Could it lead us to a place that isn’t home? Can we replicate the warmth of flesh and bone?
9.
Neon Sign 03:15
10.

about

“We’re not going anywhere,” Katie Ernst (Twin Talk, Jason Moran) sings on “Bridge,” a dreamy standout on Edith Judith’s debut album, Bones & Structure. As the music burbles softly around her—a deftly plucked guitar theme, a drumbeat that alternates between keeping and disrupting time, a saxophone that swims in and out of earshot—she gives no clue whether that statement should comfort or concern the listener. It’s a line laden with competing meanings, as though neither she nor Dustin Laurenzi (Jeff Parker, Twin Talk, Bon Iver, Macie Stewart), the other half of Edith Judith, has ever settled on the song’s true intentions. Without sounding vague or detached, this Chicago-based duo thrives on such ambiguity, creating songs that are open-ended, unsettled, alive to as many implications as a listener brings to them.

“Are we not going anywhere because we’re such a strong unit?” Ernst poses. “Or are we not going anywhere because it’s a dead end? The many meanings that a word can have is something that is incredibly compelling to me personally, and I try to let people take whatever they need from a song without imposing too much of an agenda.” Ernst and Laurenzi have explored such musical ambiguity in their other musical projects, but Edith Judith sharpens their talent for creating catchy, thoughtful songs that sound straightforward on their surface but reveal new possibilities with each listen.

Perhaps that comes from writing during a period of intense uncertainty. Ernst and Laurenzi started the band in their Chicago apartment during the first months of the pandemic, which certainly adds another twist to the phrase, “We’re not going anywhere.” “We were in this weird time when you didn’t know what was going on,” says Ernst. “Was it good to get a time out from life? Or were we all gonna die? You can swim in that ambiguity.”

They passed the hours making music that isn’t about that period but certainly reflects many of those worries. Laurenzi passed the long lockdown hours in the couple’s music room, tinkering with instruments and experimenting with textures, molding guitars and synths and sounds that remain unidentifiable into a curious soundscape. When he played the track for Ernst, she immediately sensed melodic lines within the music, which eventually suggested lyrics and big ideas. “Strange” was the first of several songs they wrote separately together. “We had a very specific routine,” he says. “I would record something, then I’d pass it along to Katie and she’d make a melody and write lyrics. Then we’d build from that. It was very structured, which makes sense in all that chaos.”

Even as they created several more songs in similar fashion, they tried not to pin too many expectations to the music or what it might become. They’ve spent the last decade playing together in Twin Talk—her playing double bass and singing, him playing a variety of reed instruments—but it was immediately clear that this was something different. “As far as the two of us working together,” says Ernst, “this was a new frontier. We gave ourselves time, we weren’t in a rush, because there was nothing to rush for. So we both had our own time to do our own thing without any compromises or restraints. I trusted that Dustin wasn’t going to add 400 clarinets just for kicks. Everything we added felt important. There was a certain discipline to it.”

Four songs into this mysterious endeavor, they decided to share the songs with their friend Ben Lumsdaine, a Los Angeles drummer and producer who plays with Laurenzi in the group Snaarj. Lumsdaine sent back contributions that didn’t just keep time or add a beat, but commented on what Ernst was singing and what Laurenzi was playing. His pots-and-pans percussion lends “Hot Lava” its lively pace, and his rhythms on opener “Carry” grow increasingly frantic as the song progresses, keeping the music slightly off balance.

“What Ben sent back to us was very different from what we expected,” says Ernst. “The songs had more bite, a little more edginess alongside the softness of the original recordings. You could tell he put the same kind of neurotic care into them that we did.” The project felt like a real band, and the couple named it after their beloved three-legged dog, who is, as Ernst says, “a character of great resilience in our lives.” Gradually, an album took shape, taking the music in all new directions. “As things went on, we started adding more synth sounds to it,” says Laurenzi. “It became dreamier, more surreal.”

The music conveys a sense of quiet wonder at the world, even if that world had shrunk to the size of their apartment. Edith Judith muses on the quality of light in a certain room (“Strange”), the passage of DNA from parent to child (“Carry”), the illusion of an afterlife (closer “Worrisome, Weary”). With its stairstep fanfare, thundering percussion, and Ernst’s prismatic vocals, “Luna” gazes at the night sky and noticed the moon drifting farther and farther from the Earth. “I looked up some facts about the moon and just turned them into a song,” she says. “We have just one moon, but it’s slowly moving away from us, which makes me sad. The song became this celestial love story. You get a little mushy during times of trouble.”

While Edith Judith was born during uncertain times, the band is not merely a pandemic project. It has become its own distinct entity, an ongoing collaboration between two imaginative musicians who bring out something unique in each other. It’s not the only music the couple make together, but a specific corner of their shared world. “We didn’t go into this looking for answers or trying to be sure about anything,” says Ernst. “These are love songs and question songs, hopeful songs and sad songs. They’re poems of uncertainty.”

credits

released October 14, 2022

Edith Judith is:

Katie Ernst - vocals, bass guitar, double bass
Dustin Laurenzi - guitars, synthesizers, saxophone, clarinet, flute, vocals

with Ben Lumsdaine - drums, percussion


Recorded 2020/21 by Dustin Laurenzi and Katie Ernst in Chicago, IL, and by Ben Lumsdaine in Los Angeles, CA
Mixed by Ben Lumsdaine at International Anthem Studios in Chicago, IL
Mastered by Huntley Miller

Original artwork and layout by David J. Woodruff

Produced by Katie Ernst, Dustin Laurenzi and Ben Lumsdaine
All songs by Katie Ernst and Dustin Laurenzi

Thank you Sam, Dan and Andrew at Ruination Record Co., Dave Vettraino of International Anthem, and Matt Gold. Perpetual gratitude to Ben for his enormous creative contributions to this record.


℗ © 2022 Edith Judith. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Edith Judith Chicago, Illinois

Chicago-based indie folk duo Edith Judith is songwriter/ singer/bassist Katie Ernst and multi-instrumentalist Dustin Laurenzi. Their debut album Bones and Structure will be released on October 14, 2022 via Ruination Record Co.

contact / help

Contact Edith Judith

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Edith Judith, you may also like: