NOW THERE'S NO NEED TO BE LONELY

BIG CONGRATULATIONS TO GLADIE WHO RELEASED THEIR THIRD LP “NO NEED TO BE LONELY” TODAY PRODUCED BY JEFF ROSENSTOCK WHICH IS ME! If you can bear it, here is a probably mostly accurate account of my journey with working on this record…

A few months after we had toured together on and off for a year and a half, Augusta Koch (from here on probably referred to as Gus) sent me demos of No Need to Be Lonely. The band had tracked all the songs live at The Bunk, a studio Matt Schimelfenig (spelled right without looking it up) owns and operates in the Poconos. She asked if I had any advice. A few months earlier, Gus had sent me a home demo of “Car Alarm” which I loved, so I was excited to check it out as I stared out the window during a long van ride. Often my ruined brain will float in and out of records, do some scrolling, snoozing, chatting - stuff like that. But this batch of songs really grabbed me and didn’t let go until the final sustained chord of “Unfolding”, Gus repeating the mantra “nostalgia’s just fool’s gold.”

Did I have any advice?? I immediately texted my wife Christine who was sitting next to me in the van, “Should I try and produce the next Gladie record?” It had been a really long time since I’ve gotten involved in anyone else’s record like that, long enough that my philosophical perspective on what a producer should do changed, changed so much that I couldn’t see myself getting into the guts of another person’s songs like that anymore. But this batch of songs were so catchy and the lyrics so smart / warm / funny / sad / beautiful that they made me want to be a cheerleader in the room, helping hone in on the dynamics, encouraging the band to come as they are, trying to take what I was hearing on these demos and saying “YES DO THAT PLEASE MORE OF THAT!” Felt like an audacious suggestion when I asked Gus if I could hop on board to produce during a small window of a hectic schedule, especially since Matt is such a skilled producer/engineer themselves. I was surprised and overjoyed when Gus said yes.

I suggested we track live to tape with Jack Shirley - really there’s no better person on Earth at capturing a bunch of friends in a room playing their hearts out. We had planned to make the record a few days after I had returned from a long international tour but a day before everyone was scheduled to fly out to Oakland a very close family member of mine passed away. I suggested to the band and to Jack that they should just go on and do it without me, that the conversations we had on the phone about the songs were probably closer to the advice they were initially looking for. But within hours everyone had figured out how to rearrange their lives and reschedule the session two months later, refunding flights and lodging, shifting stuff around on the studio calendar to accommodate what I was going through. It’s hard to articulate how much that meant to me.

I drove up to Oakland in January 2025, Subaru full of guitars and synths, still raw with grief feeling like maybe I shouldn’t be going anywhere. As anyone who knows them can attest, being around the members of Gladie (and Jack & Lauren too) is the antidote to wanting to disappear for a while. Even though I arrived late and we had to be in the studio early that morning, they were immediately cracking jokes and we were all laughing our asses off. The vibe continued into the studio where a joyful sense of calm led to a session where the words ‘focus’ and ‘more energy’ never had to be uttered. Gladie ripped through these tunes on the floor with such powerful conviction interspersed with giggles and silly bits between takes. Whenever anyone was feeling down on their performance, someone else in the band lifted them up - in that regard I kinda didn’t have to do shit! Jack put so much care and thought into how each song was recorded as we made possibly imperceptible but deliberate choices with tape bias and ran guitars straight from fuzz pedal to tube preamps to the console. Miles indulging me with occasional death metal blast beats on the drum kit. Evan’s giant smile blanketing the room with joy. Quiet conversations with Matt about studio gear stuff, it was really cool to see them get a chance to take a breather from pulling triple duty as musician/producer/engineer on a Gladie record and just fuckin shred. Liz showing up and intuitively locking in harmonies in one or two shots. And of course my friend Gus smashing vocal take after vocal take like it was the easiest thing in the world, followed by literally rolling around on the floor of the control room during the mix. I laughed so much during the making of this record.

When we were done it was clear to me that this record and this band are something special, and I still feel that way. One of those lightning in a bottle moments maybe. There’s so many gut punch lyrics on this record and just as many moments that make you wanna throw your arms and hands up in the air like a wacky wavey guy at a car dealership. The more music I listen to, the more I realize that the true test is whether or not a song and a performance can hit hard when it’s just a band playing it - no fancy extras that scream “I’m an important artist!”, just good ass songs. To me every track on this record does that shit. I still get texts from Jack periodically that say “THIS GLADIE RECORD IS SO FUCKIN GOOD”

So whenever wherever you’re reading this today, I hope you get to set aside some time to throw on some headphones for a walk or train ride, get in your car, turn up your home stereo or however else it you listen to music and spend some time with No Need To Be Lonely because Jack’s right, it is so fuckin good. Plus there’s a baby singing backups on one of the songs!

— Jeff

PS SHOULD PROBABLY MENTION WE HAVE A FEW COPIES IN THE OL’ WEBS STORE