Mutual Benefit Announces Skip a Sinking Stone, out May 20th, on Transgressive

Skip a Sinking Stone, the new album by Mutual Benefit (aka Jordan Lee) is a two-part meditation on impermanence that also acts as a portrait of growing up. Mutual Benefit’s work has been praised as being vulnerable and warmhearted. This new album, his debut for MomPop (USA)/Transgressive (UK-Europe), has a similar sensibility, patiently built from carefully chosen lines illustrated by lush astral folk and intricately composed arrangements that manage to appear effortless.

Skip a Sinking Stone takes place after the success of Mutual Benefit’s debut studio full-length, Love’s Crushing Diamond, with Lee settled into a life that passes as steady. The first half of the record, awash in warm string arrangements and hope, is written about the year that followed: Mutual Benefit’s rotating cast of friends and collaborators is touring non-stop, playing professional stages and festivals, and Lee is in love.

The second half of the album finds Lee in New York, in a rare position of having the time and resources to work on the new record full-time. Lee lives and records at the Silent Barn, breaking from his usual nomadic lifestyle to explore staying in one place, reflected musically by a comparative stillness and introspection. However, New York life presents another kind of unreality: one colored by growing depression, a downturn in the relationship, and a city in turmoil, the atmosphere heavy with grief and anger in the wake of the Eric Garner verdict.

“I kept coming back to how nice that was, throwing these stones against the water,” says Lee. “I thought it was a fitting metaphor for the endeavors I have in my life—sometimes they work out and sometimes they don’t. I think it’s a good exercise in accepting impermanence and failure and these things that are constant, and yet the activity of skipping stones is really relaxing and beautiful.” Each stone ultimately sinks, but, as Lee sings on the album’s zenith, as the cycle ends and repeats again, all we can do is maintain the hope that it’s “Not For Nothing.”

Mutual Benefit is announcing a headline tour kicking off June 1st and their support tour opening for Deer Tick, kicks off tomorrow. All dates are below.

Mutual Benefit’s Skip a Sinking Stone is out May 20th on MomPop, and available for pre-order now. All iTunes’ pre-orders come with an instant grat download of debut single, “Not For Nothing.” The album will be released via Spunk in Australia and New Zealand and Transgressive outside of North America, Australia and New Zealand.

Watch Mutual Benefit’s “Not For Nothing” Video – https://youtu.be/XF0NjdKaU0o

Skip a Sinking Stone Tracklisting:

1. Madrugada
2. Skipping Stones
3. Closer Still
4. Lost Dreamers
5. Getting Gone
6. Not For Nothing
7. Nocturne
8. Slow March
9. Many Returns
10. City Sirens
11. Fire Escape
12. The Hereafter

Mutual Benefit Tour Dates:

• Wed. March 2 – Nashville, TN @ City Winery *
• Thu, March 3 – Mobile, AL @ Merry Widow *
• Fri. March 4 – Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder *
• Sat. March 5 – Orlando, FL @ Avalon Gallery
• Sun. March 6 – Savannah, GA @ The Sentient Bean
• Mon. March 7 – Athens, GA @ Georgia Theater *
• Tue. March 8 – Charleston, SC @ Pour House *
• Wed. March 9 – Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theater *
• Thu. March 10 – Washington, DC @ Sixth & I Synagogue *
• Fri. March 11 – York, PA @ Strand Capitol Performing Arts Center – Strand Theater *
• Sat. March 12 – Hartford, CT @ Infinity Hall *
• Sun. March 13 – Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre
• Mon. March 14 – Portland, ME @ Port City Music Hall *
• Tue. March 15 – Portsmouth, NH @ 3S Art Space *
• Wed. March 16 – Somerville, MA @ Sommerville Theater *
• Fri. March 18 – Albany, NY @ The Egg – Swyer Theatre *
• Sat. March 19 – Buffalo, NY @ Tralf Theatre *
• Sun. March 20 – Morgantown, WV @ Morgantown Mainstage *
• Mon. April 25 – Amsterdam, NL @ Sugarfactory
• Tue. April 26 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix
• Thu. April 28 – London, UK @ Bush Hall
• Fri. April 29 – Paris, FR @ Le Point Ephemere
• Fri. May 27 — Toronto, ON @ The Drake Hotel
• Sat. May 28 — Lansing, MI @ Mac’s Bar
• Mon. May 30 — Pontiac, MI @ Pike Room
• Tue. May 31 — Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern
• Wed. June 1 — Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
• Sun. June 5 — Seattle, WA @ Barboza
• Mon. June 6 — Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
• Wed. June 8 — San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
• Fri. June 10 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Resident
• Sat. June 11 — San Diego, CA @ Casbah
• Tue. June 14 — Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
• Wed. June 15 — Kansas City, MO @ The Riot Room
• Fri. June 17 — St. Louis, MO @ The Luminary Center for the Arts
• Sat. June 18 — Columbus, OH @ The Basement
• Mon. June 20 — Washington, DC @ DC9
• Tue. June 21 — Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
• Wed. June 22 — New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
• Thu. June 23 — Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right
• Fri. June 24 — Boston, MA @ Great Scott

* supporting Deer Tick