Neil Young is digging deeper into his past. Following the recent live set As Time Explodes, the rock icon has announced another album with the Chrome Hearts. Second Song, which arrives digitally Sept. 18 ahead of physical editions on Oct. 30 via Reprise. The seven-song collection serves as the band’s second studio effort together and was recorded this spring at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studios in Malibu.
Young, 80, has described the project as deeply personal from the outset. Writing on the Neil Young Archives earlier this year, he revealed that Second Song grew out of a burst of early morning writing before the Chrome Hearts convened under a full moon to record the material. The finished album also reaches much further back, reviving three previously unheard songs Young originally wrote in 1963 alongside newer compositions. “Every song… is straight from the heart,” he wrote, later calling the record “a special gift” that he “really feels.”
Produced by Young and longtime collaborator Niko Bolas under the Volume Dealers banner alongside Lou Adler, Second Song reunites Young with drummer Anthony LoGerfo, bassist Corey McCormick, guitarist Micah Nelson and keyboard veteran Spooner Oldham. According to the announcement, the semi-acoustic record draws inspiration from reflective touchstones in Young’s catalog such as Comes a Time and Prairie Wind, with lyrics that grapple with memory, mortality and renewal. The title track sets the tone with the opening sentiment: “Through smoking leaves of time the words just tumbled forward in this second song of mine…”
The seven-track set comprises five previously unreleased songs alongside new, previously unheard versions of “Casting Me Away From You” and “I’ll Love You Forever,” giving Second Song an unusually broad timeline that bridges the earliest days of Young’s songwriting with music completed only months ago.
Second Song also continues Young’s longstanding crusade for analog fidelity. As he explained on the Neil Young Archives while the album was being completed, the band simultaneously captured analog and high-resolution digital masters so listeners could compare the formats for themselves. “Analog was the beginning, and it never sounded better,” Young wrote. “Hi res digital is a clear second best.” He added that while both versions are “beautiful if the song is,” analog remains “museum quality sound” that allows listeners to “disappear into and lose yourself” over repeated plays.
The album was engineered and mixed by John Hanlon at Shangri-La, with analog mixes completed at the Village and mastering handled by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering. Second Song will be available on vinyl, CD, digital and high-resolution audio through the Neil Young Archives.
Meanwhile, the all-star celebration of Young’s songbook continues with the benefit series Vol. 2 – Out of the Blue and Vol. 3 – Into the Black, both arriving Nov. 6 through Cinema Music Group and Killphonic Records. Proceeds from the project benefit the Bridge School, the nonprofit founded by Neil and and his late wife Pegi Young to support individuals with severe speech and physical impairments. The new editions feature contributions from My Morning Jacket, Lucinda Williams, Heart’s Ann Wilson, Peter Frampton, Los Lobos, Modest Mouse featuring Califone, Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, Cold War Kids, Kurt Vile and the Violators and MJ Lenderman.