THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Richard Russell Is Temporary is the third studio album by Everything Is Recorded, the music project centred around, yes, producer Richard Russell. It features an incredible roll call of collaborators, including Sampha, Bill Callahan, Noah Cyrus, Florence Welch, Maddy Prior, Berwyn, Alabaster Deplume, Jah Wobble, Yazz Ahmed, Laura Groves, Kamasi Washington, Rickey Washington, Roses Gabor, Jack Peňate, Samantha Morton, Clari Freeman-Taylor and Nourished By Time.
Created over four years from 2020 to 2024, RRIT was recorded in the main at Russell’s own west London Copper House studio, alongside sessions in Tottenham, Cumbria, Dorset, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The album builds on previous acclaimed releases including 2018’s eponymous, Mercury Prize-nominated debut album.
On this 14-song release, Russell reboots his musical DNA: While his music had previously been about rhythm, words and melody in that order, on RRIT he swaps rhythm and melody, the rhythm taking up less space and the melody coming to the fore. Musically some songs are inspired by the sonic thought experiment “What if folk music had ‘gone digital’ in the ’80s, just as reggae had?” while spiritually and lyrically the themes encompass grief and loss.
The results — elevated by an intriguing and diverse set of collaborators who sound like the best and freshest versions of themselves — are the most luminous and relaxed compositions of Russell’s career. Every song sounds washed in sunshine and graced by tenderness. More fragile and quieter than previous Everything Is Recorded output, it might be one of the gentlest records ever made about death. In Russell’s own words “making the album was joyous, a way of hallowing life.”
