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PREORDER
Ships When IN STOCK.
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ARTIST
TITLE
The Final Painting
FORMAT
LP
LABEL
CATALOG #
DC 987LP
DC 987LP
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
7/31/2026
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"Time stands stunningly still on The Final Painting, the dreamy, elegiac final album from legendary underground singer-songwriter/poet/painter Ed Askew. Ed started his singing career in 1968 with a self-titled LP release on NYC's infamous freejazz/free-folk ESP-Disk' label. Upon returning to New York in the early '80s, he began circulating cassettes of his self-recorded new songs. This was a fascinating and unlikely new chapter in his music, but only a few noticed. In the years following, additional new and archival Askew recordings have been released through Tin Angel, Drag City and Improved Sequence Records. By the time Ed turned 80 in 2020, his health was declining to the point that touring was impossible and even leaving his place was a challenge. In his Brooklyn apartment, he continued to tape new songs, posting them on his Bandcamp page. Their stark and fragile quality was singular, inspiring thoughts of a new production fleshing out Ed's two-track home recordings. Ed was into it; he forwarded nearly three dozen songs in different stages of completion and the two plotted a path forward. For the World featured acoustic piano, banjo and harp; the songs here, played by Ed on keyboards, synth and harmonica suggested trumpet, tenor saxophone and other sonic touches to expand their existentially lonely sound. Health scares for both men delayed things until early 2024, when various musicians recorded their parts either at home or in a Nashville Studio, with Styrofoam Winos' Trevor Nikrant and Ryan Davis's Roadhouse Band taking their turns almost in response to one another. The Final Painting not only defies the curse of sequels and the ten-year gap between the two DeCicca/Askew productions, it's also a wonderous variation on the intimacy of the self-portrait, an expression from the twilight of one of the most unique artists to emerge in last half of the 20th century. The Final Painting reinvites For the World contributors Sharon Van Etten, Eve Searls, and Canaan Faulkner, and new guests Bill Callahan, William Tyler, Ryan Jewell, Dustin Laurenzi, and Fulvio Sigurta. In their last conversation, just days before Ed passed in January 2025, he and Jerry agreed to: a) use the painting left on the easel of Ed's now-empty apartment and b) call the album The Final Painting. Profoundly resonant in the style of Frank Sinatra's Watertown and David Bowie's Blackstar, The Final Painting is faithful to the spirit of Ed Askew and his DIY nature and Modernist values, pursued for years and years throughout life, art and music, all the way to the very end."
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