The six months since guitarist Jay Bennett parted company with the band Wilco clearly have been productive ones -- he hopes to release three complete albums of new music this year.
Bennett parted ways with Wilco last summer after the group completed work on their as-yet-unreleased new album, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot." But in a telephone interview from his Chicago-area home, he said he barely paused for breath before rushing into his next project.
Bennett immediately built a studio in his basement and got together with long-time friend Edward Burch to collaborate on a new batch of songs. Since then, the pair has been making music at a frantic pace.
"One of the things I missed a lot during my Wilco years, was Ed and our musical partnership," Bennett said.
"Periodically, when we had downtime from Wilco, we would try to get something done ... Now, this rebirth of our partnership is so great."
The duo is scheduled to perform Jan. 31 at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern, and they will likely release their work under the name Bennett & Burch, he said. They've already completed work on 44 songs, "with another 10 on the chopping block, ready to get going," he said. Ideally, he hopes to release an album every two or three months during 2002.
The first batch of material from Bennett & Burch will be an album Bennett wants to call "The Palace At 4 a.m.". It will include recent collaborations, as well as songs the pair have written together over the past seven years. It will surface in April or May.
The title of the album is derived from a sculpture by Giacometti, but it reflects Bennett's love of working in the studio.
"The studio is the palace, looking at a good day's work," he said.
"The anticipation of the next day, the sense of accomplishment, it spoke to me on that level," he said, adding he expects the disc will initially be released on an independent label while Bennett & Burch explore major-label options.
Bennett said his concept for the collaboration with Burch was "to take what we have always done sitting on the couch, and do it sitting on top of the world." The results, though, won't be modest.
Although the two of them recorded the music in Bennett's home studio, he says the sound will at times be epic, citing "wall of sound" producer Phil Spector as an influence.
"This is huge. But then again, some of it is nice and pleasant and small, you know? It is all over. Nothing is ruled in or out yet. No idea is ever ruled in our out. Working this way, with a studio in your own house, with your best friend in the world, nothing can be wrong."
Bennett's enthusiasm for his new musical life is obvious, yet it comes after what appears to have been a tumultuous time for Wilco. During the making of "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," the band parted ways with both Bennett and drummer Ken Coomer, and then split acrimoniously with their label, Reprise Records.
"Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" is now set for release in the spring via Nonesuch Records, and Bennett said his split with the band wasn't as melodramatic as might be imagined.
"Something had just run its course," he explained.
"Unfortunately, things just running its course doesn't make a good story. But I can't sum it up any better than saying (Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy) and my partnership had run its course."
