Gregory Ackerman Goes For Adds

“‘We’ve Got a Runner’ was a song I wrote after a break up,” explains Los Angeles-based songwriter Gregory Ackerman. “I recorded it in my room and posted a demo on SoundCloud in 2015, but I always wanted to resurrect it in the studio.” The song is now the advance single from Stresslove, Ackerman’s upcoming EP of “love songs meant for those who had fallen out of love.” As with his 2018 debut album And Friends, the EP was produced by Pierre de Reeder, the former bassist of Rilo Kiley and the engineer of recent recordings with bandmate Jenny Lewis, M. Ward, She & Him, and other notable songwriters. De Reeder adds some sonic hypnotic mysticism to Ackerman’s sunny 70’s-era California sunset melodies.

“The EP follows the arc of a failed relationship,” says Ackerman. “It’s like a sonic version of 19th century painter Thomas Cole’s series ‘The Course of Empire,’ but for the stages of love.” Releasing a first-single that references the most difficult point in the narrative – the end of the relationship – could be seen as a downer, but the tune is actually revelatory. It’s a friend to the end that finds a path forward where it seems like there is none. Ackerman sings, “So leave me now, forever hold your peace, ‘Cause I’m taking to the streets, And it won’t be you I’m thinking of.”

“A gentle tale of breakup, over highlighted, ethereal marimba, shakers and even handclaps in the mix.  It’s a stirring percussive ensemble, over moving vocals and guitar, and an enticing harbinger of the upcoming EP.” –Americana Highways

RIYL: M. Ward, Jack Symes, The Eels, Kevin Morby, Damien Jurado, Kurt Vile

FCC Clean

Label: Munich Records

Going For Adds 6/25