To record "Ease the Work", Hour traveled via ferry with an entire studio’s worth of equipment to an old off-Broadway theater on Peaks Island in Maine, months before the first tourists would show up. The week-long session started with an island-wide power outage that halted recording on the first day, and ended with twelve songs that walk steadily between longing and contentment, sentimentality and subtlety, the lift of harmony and the compulsion of a melody you wish would play forever. Hour’s music cuts a broad pathway, and remains hard to classify or compare. Perhaps most at home beside work from Bill Frisell, Eiko Ishibashi, ECM Records, or the Louisville experimental chamber group Rachel’s, Ease the Work shows us life on the boundary of composition and improvisation. It reaches for the sweeping gestures and inspired pacing of classic film scores, Frank Sinatra ballads, and Scott Walker’s pop orchestra. It also retains the arresting intimacy of the band’s early work. Strings swell and harmonize in counterpoint with electric guitar, clarinet, and piano, while drums, synth pads, and field recordings complete the aural world.
Release date:
April 12, 2024
Label:
Install our app to receive notifications when new upcoming releases are added.

Recommended equipment and accessories
-
Cartridges - Top Picks
A selection of turnatble cartridges that provide great performance and sound quality
-
Pro-Ject Phono Box DC Pre-Amp
Compact, high-performance phono preamplifier for both MM and MC cartridges, delivering a clean, detailed signal with minimal noise.
-
Denon DP-400
Featuring a high-precision, belt-driven mechanism and an adjustable tonearm that ensures optimal tracking and minimal resonance
-
Vinyl Care - Top Picks
A selection of accesories to keep your turntable equipment & vinyl records in the best shape
-
Turntables - Top Picks
A selection of reliable record players you can buy today, for every budget
Featured Upcoming Vinyl
-
Laufey A Matter of Time
Laufey LLC
August 22, 2025 -
Royel Otis Hickey (Charcoal)
Ourness/Capitol
August 22, 2025 -
Ludwig Göransson Sinners Score [2xLP]
Mutant
September 26, 2025 -
THROATCUT. RESILIENCE. (Red/Black Marbled)
Arising Empire
August 8, 2025 -
Bostich + Fussible Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich + Fussible Greatest Hits
Nacional Records
July 25, 2025 -
Flock of Dimes The Life You Save - Citrus [2xLP]
Sub Pop
October 10, 2025 -
Jay Som Belong (White)
Polyvinyl Records
October 10, 2025 -
Upchuck I'm Nice Now
Domino Record Co
October 3, 2025 -
R.J.F. Cleaning Out the Empty Administration Building
Dais
August 15, 2025 -
Coil vs Elph Born Again Pagan (Extended; 30Th Anniversary) [3xLP]
Infinite Fog
July 25, 2025 -
Minus the Bear Menos El Oso (20th Anniversary; Pink) [2xLP]
Suicide Squeeze
August 22, 2025 -
Anand Wilder Psychic Lessons
Last Gang Records
August 22, 2025 -
The Planet Smashers On The Dancefloor
Stomp Records
August 22, 2025 -
Allo Darlin' Bright Nights (Magenta)
Slumberland Records
July 25, 2025