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Jul 13, 2023 By Kat Ramkumar Photography by Annalie Bouchard

New York based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Mutual Benefit (aka Jordan Lee) has announced the release of his fourth studio album, Growing at the Edges, and shared its first single, “Little Ways,” via a music video directed by Vidhu Kota. Growing at the Edges is due out October 6 via Transgressive. Watch the video below followed by the upcoming LP’s tracklist and cover artwork.

According to Lee, the title for Growing at the Edges is multi-layered. “I became interested in the unruly first signs of growth after a disaster, and the beautiful ways lives start to blur into each other through relationships,” Lee says in a press release. “Edges are where spaces are negotiated.” It takes on another facet as Lee actualized his desire to grow as a musician. This LP was written over the span of five years where it finally solidified when he was stuck at home developing nightly piano sessions during the pandemic. “In songs that before would maybe resolve in a predictable place, I started doing these what if’s,” he says. “What if it went somewhere unexpected instead?”

The record contains an underlying political tow that makes itself evident. Of his lyrics, Lee says: “There’s still quite a bit of searching, In fact, a central theme of this album is that it’s okay, at any age, to search your core beliefs and figure out if you might be fundamentally wrong about something. A lot of the lyrics in my previous album were questions, and I think I ventured out and made a couple more statements on this one.”

The first single “Little Ways” was a cheerful reminder for Lee throughout the pandemic and helped him navigate uncertain times. Of the song Lee says: “‘Little Ways’ came out of a period in my 30s where acquaintances were buying houses and starting backyard gardens while I was still in a cramped Brooklyn apartment wondering if my life was stuck in a place. I eventually found contentment through staying in the present moment and noticing how our inner and outer landscapes change a little each day and that it is our relationships that make a place meaningful.”

Growing at the Edges was co-produced with Gabriel Birnbaum and features violinist Concetta Abatte. Other collaborators include guitarist Jonnie Baker (Florist), vocalist Eva Goodman (Nighttime), bassist Nick Jost (Wilder Maker, Baroness), and drummer Sean Mullins (Wilder Maker, Sam Evian).

Mutual Benefit’s last studio album was 2018’s Thunder Follows the Heart.

Growing at the Edges Tracklist:

1. Growing at the Edges
2. Remembering a Dream
3. Beginner’s Heart
4. Perfiguring
5. Tying a Knot
6. Season of Flame
7. Wasteland Companions
8. Winter Sun, Cloudless SKy
9. Little Ways
10. Signal to Bloom

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