Jay Bennett plots three new albums

Much like love, Jay Bennett-related material tends to come in spurts. The timeline of releases:

2002: Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Bennett's last album with the group) and his collaboration with Edward Burch, The Palace at 4 A.M., hit store shelves.
2004: Solo efforts Bigger Than Blue and The Beloved Enemy arrive within months of each other.
2006: The Magnificent Defeat completes Bennett's solo trilogy.

Well, it's an even-numbered year again, and so Bennett prepares to unleash another maelstrom of creativity. As The Chicago Sun-Times reports, the multi-instrumentalist/studio magician has a hat trick of discs lined up for '08. Up first: a new solo disc entitled Kicking at the Perfumed Air. Secondly, there's another collaboration with Burch on tap, a six-song EP dedicated to songwriters Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds.

Finally, longtime Bennett-watchers will be happy to hear that a reunion is in the offing between the man and some of his former bandmates. No, not those ex-bandmates (seriously, have you seen I Am Trying To Break Your Heart lately?) — Bennett is getting back together with his old buddies from Titanic Love Affair, a '90s power pop troupe that operated under the radar for awhile. They're set to release their first collection of new material in over a decade.

All of this recording activity serves as fanfare to herald Bennett's arrival in Champaign-Urbana, Ill., where he's opened up a new studio, Pieholden Suite Sound. The trip out to his new den was actually what prompted the Titanic Love Affair reunion. Bennett explains in his e-mail announcement:

“During the move, I came across some half-finished material by my previous band, Titanic Love Affair. Not only did this lead to reconnecting with ‘the original cast’ of TLA, but these songs left us wondering why they never made it on earlier albums. We're going to change that, as we've now finished a whole album's worth of new TLA songs.”

Listen to what Jay's been cooking up on his MySpace.

Related links:
Jay-Bennett.com
Titanic Love Affair on MySpace
Daytrotter.com: Jay Bennett session

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