Lean Year

The music of Lean Year -- the indie duo of vocalist Emilie Rex and filmmaker/musician Rick Alverson -- dwells in hushed, meditative atmospheres built from sparse arrangements of traditional rock and orchestral instruments. The couple released their full-length debut, Lean Year, in 2017. The follow-up, 2022's Sides, re-teamed producers Alverson and Erik Hall (<a href="spotify:artist:6S2SIzDqpd9YJs6I4wGHB0">In Tall Buildings</a>).

Rick Alverson emerged on the broader indie scene in the 1990s as leader of the <a href="spotify:artist:1RM5gp0RFfjpJhCYFPB30p">Nick Cave</a>- and <a href="spotify:artist:5l8VQNuIg0turYE1VtM9zV">Leonard Cohen</a>-influenced <a href="spotify:artist:60c5tYOwVeviwvxDL4Vq2d">Drunk</a>. Beginning with 1997's To Corner Wounds, the band issued four albums on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Jagjaguwar%22">Jagjaguwar</a>. Debuting with 2000's Leisure and Other Songs, Alverson's collaborative solo project, <a href="spotify:artist:3cr4dt9xFGBcEPMulGzSAY">Spokane</a>, likewise combined guitar and drums with instruments like piano, strings, and mallet percussion. <a href="spotify:artist:3cr4dt9xFGBcEPMulGzSAY">Spokane</a> released albums on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Jagjaguwar%22">Jagjaguwar</a> throughout the 2000s, before Alverson made his directorial debut with 2010's The Builder, a film he co-wrote with Colm O'Leary. The writing team collaborated again on 2011's New Jerusalem and 2012's The Comedy, both with Alverson directing. His fourth feature-length film, 2015's Entertainment, was written instead with <a href="spotify:artist:7n5xb6bByE74Aw4ppe858H">Tim Heidecker</a> and lead actor Gregg Turkington, aka <a href="spotify:artist:2VpsELNxIU5XrVjcpdY9Ek">Neil Hamburger</a> (other members of the cast included <a href="spotify:artist:5SL8972vfCQ4PFqlmf9B5G">John C. Reilly</a> and Michael Cera). In the meantime, he directed music videos for the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:2wJ4vsxWd7df7dRU4KcoDe">Sharon Van Etten</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6mKqFxGMS5TGDZI3XkT5Rt">Angel Olsen</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2wPDbhaGXCqROrVmwDdCrK">Oneohtrix Point Never</a>.

Emilie Rex left her job at Indiana University and relocated from the Midwest to Alverson's longtime base of Richmond, Virginia, in the mid-2010s. The two soon formed Lean Year, with Rex's gentle melancholy vocal performances perfectly complementing Alverson's quietly cinematic music. A third component of Lean Year's spacious, haunting sound was Western Michigan-based Erik Hall, who co-produced the duo's eponymous debut album with Alverson. After signing with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Western+Vinyl%22">Western Vinyl</a>, home of Hall's <a href="spotify:artist:6S2SIzDqpd9YJs6I4wGHB0">In Tall Buildings</a>, the Lean Year LP saw release in October 2017. Hall also co-produced and played on the follow-up, September 2022's Sides. Partly informed by the loss of multiple close family members, it also included performances by Elliot Bergman (<a href="spotify:artist:4uWvboDVb3UDhPJPKRx4CB">NOMO</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4wHZkzWXD9GPr4RQAYjUcv">Wild Belle</a>), <a href="spotify:artist:7xoTSPGUr9u8FWR4G8AWoS">Joseph Shabason</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:22ojy4H4ZVpowC4lRRC8In">Destroyer</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6g0mn3tzAds6aVeUYRsryU">the War on Drugs</a>), and Matthew O'Connell (<a href="spotify:artist:6tvB2N2sNS8nTDxBomtlhe">Chorusing</a>). ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi