After months of recording and releasing new songs from his Manhattan apartment, Trey Anastasio has released his official quarantine record, Lonely Trip, out Friday, July 31st via his own Rubber Jungle Records.

Trey Anastasio has been releasing a steady stream of new videos from his NYC home studio, the “Rubber Jungle,” since the lockdowns began, including “…And Flew Away“, “A Wave of Hope”, “If I Could See The World“, “Evolve”, “Till We Meet Again“, “The Silver Light“, “My World Is My Home“, “Are You There Colleen”, “Lonely Trip”, “Shaking Someone’s Outstretched Hand”, “I Never Left Home”, “Lotus”, “When The Words Go Away”, “Timeless”, “I Never Needed You Like This Before”, “The Greater Good”, and “Lost In The Pack”. Phish has also kept fans engaged with their weekly archival streaming series, Dinner and a Movie, which has now extended for 18 weeks. All of this is in addition to the new Phish album, Sigma Oasis, released back on April 2nd.

The majority of Trey’s quarantine single releases are included on Lonely Trip, with the exception of the on-the-nose “My World Is My Home” and Scott Herman/Tom Marshall collab “Timeless”. All of the songs on Lonely Trip album were remixed by longtime studio collaborator Bryce Goggin. Ahead of its release on streaming platforms tomorrow, Trey Anastasio’s Lonely Trip initially premiered in its entirety tonight, on Thursday, July 30th, at 8pm ET on SiriusXM Phish Radio. As Trey Anastasio explained of the record via a press release,

Lonely Trip was conceived and recorded in isolation at my home studio (aka Rubber Jungle) during the peak of New York City’s COVID-19 crisis, March — July, 2020. When the lockdown began, I had by chance just completed a weekend songwriting session with my friends and longtime collaborators Tom Marshall and Scott Herman. That session took place March 13th and 14th just as the crisis was beginning in New York, so the themes of fear and isolation were already finding their way into those first songs. By the time I arrived home, the situation in NYC had gotten much worse.

Knowing I wasn’t going to be leaving my apartment for a while, I started working. It felt therapeutic to write. I wanted to connect with our community in some way. The unplanned nature of the recording meant I didn’t have a lot of gear during this process. I had an electric and an acoustic guitar, a small amp, two microphones, some percussion, and two keyboards, including an old Kurzweil with very realistic drum sounds on it. Everything was recorded through a Spire 8-track. Lonely Trip is truly a raw, low-fi recording.

The process of writing songs became a reflective and healing experience. Being able to share these songs instantly with our community via Instagram felt equally profound. It harkened back to my youth, before there was a Phish, when I would write songs and home-record them specifically with the intention of sharing them with my circle of friends via cassette four-track recordings.

As the weeks went by, I worked on improving my recording techniques. I called recording engineers including Ben Collette and Vance Powell to get tips on microphone placement, and I purchased a bass guitar online. I also started tapping into a Dropbox folder with about 30 four-minute drum sequences that I had recorded with Jon Fishman over the last year.

For the previous few Phish albums (including Kasvot Växt and Sigma Oasis), I had been experimenting with writing songs, starting with drum beats that I had sung into my phone. Fish and I would go into the studio and record the beats exactly as I had sung them, with Fish launching off in his unique way after a minute or two. I used these beats as building blocks to many of the songs on Lonely Trip, and it explains how I could do a whole album in Rubber Jungle with such good sounding drums. Thank you Fish!

The album was ultimately mixed by my friend Bryce Goggin, and as always, Bryce’s mixes sound incredible. Thank you Bryce!

Lonely Trip was my message in a bottle during this time, and I wish I knew how to properly thank all of you in our community for listening and responding. It meant so much to me. Thank you. Wishing all of you much love and safety during this turbulent time.

This album is dedicated to the heroism of our healthcare and essential workers.

— Trey 

You can listen to Trey Anastasio’s Lonely Trip on the platform of your choice here or stream it via Spotify below:

Trey Anastasio – Lonely Trip – Full Album