Jason Lytle surprised fans today with a new live album, House Show, the Grandaddy and Admiral Radley frontman’s first release since sophomore solo LP Dept. of Disappearance in the fall of 2012. After ending his tour in support of the latter at Noise Pop in February 2013 Lytle has laid low, playing just a handful of miscellaneous gigs and releasing no new music (though he did record and as yet unreleased cover of Sparklehorse’s “Someday I Will Treat You Good” for Last Box of Sparklers – A Tribute to Mark Linkous). House Show can be streamed for free and downloaded/ gifted for $7 at jasonlytle.bandcamp.
Released without much fuss (or a record label) – just an upload shared on social media – House Show might seem out of the blue considering Jason’s low profile throughout 2013 and most of this year. Recently he’s been more active though. This summer he produced and was a guest on Kramies’ EP The Wooden Heart (download it free here), and earlier this week Jason’s new single “Bell’s View” was issued as part of the debut run of PIAPTK’s CD-vinyl hybrid records (stream it here).
House Show was recorded at an intimate gathering on May 17, 2014. Jason writes on facebook:
“I’ve wanted to do a living room show for a while. This one was a welcome party of sorts as my first show in a new home town. My friend Stephan Bayley who hosted the show also recorded and engineered it and it turned well…so ‘what the hell’. The use of his Yamaha grand piano, some samples/loops and my acoustic guitar made it (actually) fun for me! I debated as to whether or not to edit out the in-between song chatter…till eventually I decided to leave it all in…. I think you get a better sense of the pleasant atmosphere in the room (and my wine buzz) by keeping it raw and unedited.“
The Future Heart 