''Bright Penny'' is the third studio album by American artist

Liam Hayes Liam Hayes, professionally known as Plush since 1992, is an American songwriter and performer, originally from Chicago, Illinois, United States. His discography includes three critically acclaimed records: '' More You Becomes You'' (1998), '' F ...

, originally released on September 28, 2009.

Background and recording

In 2004, Hayes started to work on roughing out new songs at studios in Los Angeles and in various studios around Chicago. "I've been working on it off and on, just doing different demos. Some stuff I did in LA a couple of years ago, and I'm just kind of bringing it all together. It's been in pieces until now and now I have some final tracks." Formal sessions for Bright Penny began in December 2004 at the New York home studio of Salon music critic Thomas Bartlett, who's also the keyboardist in the art-pop band

Doveman Thomas Bartlett (born October 13, 1981), also known as Doveman, is an American pianist, producer, and singer. He has released four solo albums as Doveman, four albums as a member of The Gloaming, duo albums with the composer Nico Muhly and the ...

. Hayes financed and produced Bright Penny himself along with Tom Lunt, co-owner of Chicago label

the Numero Group The Numero Group is an archival record label that creates compilations of previously released music, reissues original albums, and creates album reconstructions from a variety of musical genres. The label, known as Numero, was founded in 2003 b ...

, who served as its executive producer. A large cast of musicians contributed to the recording of the album including legendary jazz and soul session drummer

Morris Jennings Morris Jennings was an American drummer and musician from Chicago. He recorded as Moe Jennings, M. Jennings, Maurice Jennings, Morris "Gator" Jennings, and Morris Jennings Jr. Jennings is best known for having played drums on the ''Electric Mud' ...

(who also appeared on '' Fed'') and Bob Lizik and

Jim Hines James Ray Hines (born September 10, 1946) is a retired American track and field athlete and NFL player, who held the 100-meter world record for 15 years. In 1968, he became the first man to officially break the 10-second barrier in the 100 me ...

, the rhythm section from

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...

's current backing group. Bernard Reed ( Jackie Wilson's bass player also appeared alongside

Pat Sansone Patrick Anthony "Pat" Sansone (born June 21, 1969) is an American multi-instrumentalist in the rock bands Wilco and The Autumn Defense. Early bands Sansone was born in Meridian, Mississippi. Upon entering college at The University of South ...

and

John Stirratt John Chadwick Stirratt is an American bassist and multi-instrumentalist for Wilco and The Autumn Defense. Early career Stirratt grew up in Mandeville, Louisiana. He attended Mandeville High School and the University of Mississippi, and is a ...

The Autumn Defense The Autumn Defense is an American indie rock band composed of multi-instrumentalists John Stirratt and Pat Sansone. History The Autumn Defense began as a side project for John Stirratt, best known for his work as bassist for alt-country bands Wi ...

and

Wilco Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently d ...

. In early 2005 Hayes told the press that "We might be as much as 40 percent done, depending on how well some of the recent stuff has turned out. From the start we wanted this to be a 2006 release. That's what I'm still hoping for. I am very focused right now on completing this new batch of songs." The sessions continued until the summer of 2007 with engineers Bill Skibbe and Jessica Ruffins mixing the bulk of the record at Key Club Recording Co. in Benton Harbor,

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. John Dugan who worked on preliminary for the album says, "Back around 2002, I worked on some demos with Liam, playing drums and even bass to sketch out Liam’s fresh set of songs. Liam is a complex studio artist who will often overdub a drum kit on a song that he's been working on for half-a-dozen years, then put strings on it six months later. I knew that these songs would end up layered, reorganized and a bit more baroque than ''Fed'' by the time they were done." The album features very complex arrangements and lush instrumentation and orchestration. String sections, horn sections, brass, woodwinds, sitars, tamboura, harpsichord and stylophones all feature prominently and are married to intricate pop and rock songwriting arrangements. ''Bright Penny'' was released in 2009 on Broken Horse Records.

Track listing

# "Take a Chance" # "If I Could" # "White Telescope" # "I Sing Silence" # "Look Up, Look Down" # "We Made It" # "So Much Music" # "Getaway" # "The Goose Is Out" # "O Street"

References

{{Authority control 2009 albums Liam Hayes albums