Injury Reserve has officially announced their brand new album By the Time I Get to Phoenix, also dropping its lead single, “Knees.”
The upcoming record will mark the group’s first release since the tragic death of Stepa J. Groggs in June 2020, with remaining members Ritchie With a T and Parker Corey taking the past year to finish the already-largely completed album. They explain that the title of By the Time I Get to Phoenix is more than a reference to their hometown — they are paying homage to Isaac Hayes’ song that has been used countless times, falling in line with their ethos and approach to music. By the Time I Get to Phoenix promises to be their most dynamic yet as they share their sonic influences from different styles and eras of hip-hop that have been molded in the lens of Injury Reserve.
“While touring europe in 2019, we had a show in stockholm that had been booked in the back of an italian restaurant instead of a typical venue. To match a certain lack of production we pivoted the show into our own improvisatory take on a dj set and ended up performing a song none of us had heard before, the board recording of which became the grounding for a new album,” Injury Reserve shared in a statement. “Over the next few months, we locked in and put together the 11 songs that that album would eventually become. Those early months of 2020 had about as much turmoil for us as one could expect last year, and between the general social upheaval, loss of livelihoods and family tragedy, the record we made carried these weights. Once the tracklist came together and we started to make sense of it, one of the last phone conversations we had with Groggs was over his love for the repurposing of Isaac Haye’s By the Time I Get to Phoenix to title the album. Shortly thereafter we were struck with his loss and of course everything was put on hold, but eventually, we regathered and felt most comfortable finishing this album we had made as it still resonated fully (in some respects even taking on what felt like haunting pre-echoes) and above all else stayed true to his constant insistence while recording to simply ‘make some weird sh*t.’”
“All this said obviously this album is dedicated to Jordan Alexander Groggs, aka Stepa J. Groggs with one p better get it right. Typing here feels small in the space of your real physical absence but you, your voice and your words continue to echo around us all thru these recordings and so many others and everything else. thank you for your time, we love and miss you, of course of course.”
Stream “Knees” above. Injury Reserve’s By the Time I Get to Phoenix drops September 15.
Elsewhere in music, ScHoolboy Q previewed new music during his Twitch stream.
