Partisan Records has announced Nick Sanborn’s (Sylvan Esso) new solo project, Made of Oak. Partisan will release his debut EP Penumbra on November 6, 2015. Made of Oak will also tour this fall, playing headline dates with Tuskha (Phil Moore of Bowerbirds).

The same phosphorescent weight found in Nick Sanborn’s work as half of Sylvan Esso is manifest on Penumbra. Bittersweet hooks float through weighted bass while personal textures click, strum, and breathe, giving a tense intimacy to his melodies. Nick is an unconventional producer who combines these elements with deftness and tact, using a palette he has spent years creating.

While the music is studied and skilled, Penumbra’s emotions are imperfect and wild. The listener will not be surprised to hear that this story first came into focus in a time of claustrophobia and stagnation. Penumbra follows the arc of Sanborn’s movement through a period of doubt to one of actualization, as told in the present tense. Made of Oak is not an engineered rehabilitation, rather the emotional instinct to liberate himself from his own confining patterns and forge ahead; a result of discovering that it is impossible to have perspective on yourself if you’re standing still.

Penumbra EP Track List
Penumbra
Pinebender
Side Rides
Penultra (When I See You)
Blue Zipper

Made of Oak Tour Dates
9/12 Raleigh, NC – Pour House Music Hall (Friend Island Day Party) #
11/5 Los Angeles, CA – The Bootleg *
11/7 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill *
11/9 Portland, OR – Doug Fir *
11/10 Seattle, WA – The Sunset *
11/13 Brooklyn, NY – Baby’s All Right *
11/16 Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle *
11/17 Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery *
11/18 Washington DC – DC9 *
11/19 Durham, NC – The Pinhook *

# = with Tuskha, Flock of Dimes, Phil Cook, and more
* = with Tuskha (Phil Moore of Bowerbirds)