Illusions [CD]

Menahan Street Band - Illusions [CD]

Twenty years after forming in Tommy Brenneck's Bushwick apartment, Menahan Street Band returns with Illusions, their fourth full-length album on Brenneck's Diamond West Records. The band — Tommy Brenneck, Dave Guy, Nick Movshon, Leon Michels, and Homer Steinweiss — have each pursued an array of projects in the years since, from producing for Baby Rose, Rogê, and Kirby to touring with The Roots and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Despite their many individual ventures, the group reunited with an energy Brenneck says felt like "the first time." Recorded quickly and instinctively, Illusions blends Menahan's signature guitar, horns, and drums with arrangements by Brazilian legend Arthur Verocai, taking listeners on an instrumental travelogue that lets the mind wander. Artist Ariana Papademetropoulos contributes original artwork to the album's otherworldly collection of music.