After launching a new Bandcamp page and sharing a song per day, Yo La Tengo have packaged their new music into an EP, titled We All Have Amnesia Sometimes. The new collection is out today.

According to a press release, “this digital collection features five instrumental compositions that Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan, and James McNew recorded over 10 days in late April and early May during socially distanced sessions at their rehearsal space in Hoboken, NJ.” In addition to its digital release on Bandcamp, the EP will also be released on vinyl; pre-order the vinyl or download the digital version here.

Kaplan himself shared a note to go along with the release:
“If you’ve spent any time hanging out with us at our rehearsal space in Hoboken—that pretty much covers none of you—you’ve heard us playing formlessly (he said, trying to sidestep the word ‘improvising’). Most of the songs we’ve written in the last 25 years have begun that way, but often we do it for no other reason than to push away the outside world. In late April, with the outside world weighing on everybody, we determined that the three of us could assemble in Hoboken without disobeying the rules laid out by Governor Murphy, and resumed . . . ‘practicing’ hardly describes it, because we’ve done no practicing per se, and anyway what would be practicing for . . . playing. James set up one microphone in the middle of the room in case we stumbled on something useful for the future. Instead we decided to release something we did right now.”

In addition to the new EP, Yo La Tengo also announced two livestreamed concerts, set for July 18 and 19, both at 1 p.m. ET. The shows, dubbed ‘We Have Amnesia Live’, will be performed from the band’s Hoboken, N.J. rehearsal space, where the album was recorded.

According to a press release, “the sets will be unique 30-45 minute performances of music generated in the ‘formless’ style of the Amnesia recordings… All proceeds from the event will benefit the Brennan Center For Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute fighting for democracy – to ensure our elections are fair, to end mass incarceration, and to preserve civil liberties.”

To purchase tickets to the streamed shows, click here.