Photo by Seth Olenick

Today, Marco Benevento announced his eponymous solo LP, Benevento, which will be released June 10 via Royal Potato Family. Along with the announcement, the Joe Russo’s Almost Dead pianist shared the latest single from the project “Marco & Mimo.”

Benevento is titled as a nod to Paul McCartney’s first solo album McCartney and was consciously recorded with a similar laidback flow from the American keyboardist’s home studio in Woodstock. N.Y. With a few expectations, Benevento played all of the instruments produced and engineered the album, which clocks in at 40-minutes. Mamadouba “Mimo” Camara is featured on “Marco & Mimi,” and the project also features backing vocals from the keyboardist’s wife and children.

“This record really acts as a psychedelic window into my studio and my brain,” Benevento said of the project in a press release. “The studio was a good place to be trapped…Surrounded by tape machines and gear. The album started to become this document of a crazy dude losing his mind in the woods — and maybe regaining it.” 

Later in the recording process, Benevento moved to a larger space where he explored archives, polished unfinished song ideas and capitulated to the machines, pulling beats and melodies from both gear, both familiar and covered in dust.

“I guess all my records are kind of experimental and weird but this one is really unique,” Benevento continued to say. “Records are just snapshots of time, and this is from a time when it was just me, dialing knobs and making mixes and inventing how things could sound.”

“Marco & Mimi” is the third single off Benevento following “At the End or the Beginning” and “Winter Rose“ and showcases West African psychedelic influences. Additionally, the artist shared that he utilizes lyrics from poet Al Howard.

“It was a new thing for me to dive in to—using someone’s lyrics,” Benevento continued. “Or, I should say, finding a way to fit someone else’s lyrics into my tunes. I was a bit fed up with my own lyrical ideas, and was immediately drawn to Al’s writing.”

Additionally, in another nod to McCartney, Benevento II is in the works. Benevento will be available on Limited Edition Bubblegum Pink 180-Gram Vinyl and Classic Black 180-Gram Vinyl + Digital Formats.

Listen to “Marco & Mimo” below: