I am happy to announce my latest collaboration with Lee Ranaldo – Sonic Youth co-founder and guitarist, and the release of his new solo album Between The Times and The Tides (Matador Records), which proudly features Walking Men 99™ on its cover.

This relationship was born early in 2012, when I was humbled to be approached by Lee – a local resident of downtown Manhattan who said to have become a big fan of the project as he passes by it every day. Little did Lee know that his music has been part of my personal soundtrack for many years, and so I was naturally excited to have our paths meet at this crossroads, around Lee’s latest creation.

“In some ways my whole album started with the cover photo, and I kinda built it up from there! A young Canadian photographer took that photo of me in September 2010 on the way to an interview. When I saw the photo I thought it looked so much like a cool album cover, and that thought kind of pushed me to make enough songs to see it come true, which I did. I really liked the image of me walking alongside all these other figures, with all these city names over my head. It felt like the image reflected the traveling minstrel/touring life, moving from city to city around the world. Also, the work is in my neighborhood – which didn’t really strike me at the time, but I like the fact that the cover photo was taken locally, in my ‘hood. I walk past the men all the time now. I’ll send my far-flung friends photos of my in front of their city’s icon… New York is an international city, so I imagine all these figures fit right in on the streets down here.”

 Lee Ranaldo