LISTEN: Seattle’s Longboat Shares New Album

Check out The Century Limited II: Vol. 1: American Calamities below

November 3, 2023November 3, 2023 Ron Hart 0 Comments Igor Keller, Longboat, Seattle, The Arcade Fire, The Century Limited II: Vol. 1: American Calamities, The Decemberists

Longboat’s Igor Keller (Image: Sweet Becko)

Disasters have always played a key role in the evolution of American songwriting.

But in the 1920s, blunt force tragedies were a major driving force in the music industry, with songs ripped from the headlines of the daily newspapers finding audiences all over the country. These songs are given new life by Seattle’s Longboat on their latest album The Century Limited II: Vol. 1: American Calamities.

Longboat The Century Limited II: Vol. 1: American Calamities, self-released 2023

Written in frontman Igor Keller’s cluttered Belltown bunker, The Century Limited II: Vol. 1: American Calamities was recorded at Studio Litho with Floyd Reitsma (Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews) recording and mixing. Keller arranged and produced the record, in addition to singing the songs and playing saxophone. The remarkably capable Ryan Leyva (Acid Tongue) played acoustic and electric guitar and provided backing vocals. Serious jazz guys Dan Kramlich played piano, and Chris Symer did the bass chores and James Squires was on drums. Jay Thomas played trumpet and alto saxophone. Scott Brown played trombone.

“In the process of arranging these tunes, some of the era’s hackery had to be mitigated for the sake of flow, clarity and effect,” says the Longboat mastermind. “They’ve existed for 100 years already and now they’ve gotten a new paint job. But the events that they describe were real—and in many cases, very unpleasant.”

Fans of early Arcade Fire and The Decemberists will no doubt want to check out The Century Limited II: Vol. 1: American Calamities, which you can hear in full below.