Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner will finally release an official studio recording of his orchestral song cycle, 41 stringswhich was first commissioned for a special Earth Day event in 2011.
41 strings comprises four movements, each corresponding to a respective season. The project mixes classical and rock elements as the recording of “Fall” captures, its fading strings rattling by a steadily marching snare, then later the restless hum of an electric guitar.
Including his debut in 2011, Zinner played 41 strings just four times, because production is such a business. The piece was first performed in New York in 2011, then at the Sydney Opera House for the Sydney Festival in 2012, and at London’s Royal Festival Hall for the Meltdown Festival in 2014. The most recent performance was took place at Rockefeller Plaza in 2019, where Zinner was accompanied by a 51-person orchestra and artists like Paul Banks of Interpol, Lenny Kaye of the band Patti Smith and Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem.
It was after the Rockefeller Center performance that Zinner decided to officially release a recorded version of 41 strings. In fact, he’s been sitting on the recording for over a decade, cutting it at Water Music in Hoboken, New Jersey, in May 2011, shortly after the piece was first performed. The recording was later remastered in June 2020.
41 Strings is available for pre-order and will be released digitally and on vinyl on July 1 via Chaikin Records.
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