“Today This Year” was recorded live by a 9-piece band in Studio B, where Candiloro focused Keenan’s sprawling arrangements into a warm, bubbling mixture, harnessing Keenan’s vocal acrobatics and softening the harmonies with vocalist Hope Tomeselli. The record has a tinge of an electronic pulse, as many of the arrangements began as synthesized loops by Keenan, a relentless insomniac and prolific after-work writer. As with many of Keenan’s previous releases, he is joined by Adrian Morgan (bass and vocals), who was instrumental in shaping the tunes of “Today This Year,” adding the complexities and nuances that only a jazz trombone player turned professional mastering engineer could hear. The dusty corners of the record were also shaped by drummer Dave Tedeschi, pedal steel master Gordon Hartin, keyboard player Julian Shore and a handful of other friends and session players. With the help of this powerful backing band, Keenan and Candiloro yielded a confident, thick and focused set of songs that encompass two years of writing developed and edited to ten final compositions. “Today This Year” is an album with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, a sonically balanced piece that rings true to the spaces it seeks to encapsulate. In this record, Keenan pays homage to the songwriters that have influenced him – Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Buddy Holly, and Marshall Crenshaw – while maintaining a sound that is truly his own. User-contributed text is available under the Cre