Erik Koskinen – studio session at The Current for Radio Heartland

Do you remember “friendship bread”? It was a trend in the 1990s where people shared a starter yeast to make a type of cinnamon bread, keeping some to make a loaf and then sharing the starter with more friends so they could make their own loaves. The trend was kind of like a chain letter — albeit a harmless, creative and delicious one.

Well, the friendship bread model is not too dissimilar from the way Erik Koskinen and his friends put together the songs for Down Street/Love Avenue, Koskinen’s latest album, releasing April 5. “I kind of just invited a lot of musician friends to add stuff to [my demos],” Koskinen explains. “And the idea was if I let them add something to it, and they thought of somebody else who would be good for that track, they were then invited to give it to somebody else without me even having to really know about it. It wasn't really a plan, and that built into what happened on how the record got made.”

Koskinen and his bandmates visited the Radio Heartland studio to play a selection of tracks from the forthcoming album. Watch and listen to the full session above.

Video Segments
00:00:00 I Got You (To Get Me Through)
00:05:20 Hard Times for Everyone
00:11:15 Keep My Baby With Me
00:16:04 Interview with host Mike Pengra

All songs from Erik Koskinen’s 2024 album, Down Street/Love Avenue, available on Real Phonic Records.

Musicians
Erik Koskinen – electric and acoustic guitars, vocals
Paul Bergen – electric guitar
Josh Gravelin – electric bass, vocals
Richard Medek – drums
Alex Proctor – Wurlitzer piano, Steinway grand, vocals

Credits
Guest – ‪@ErikKoskinen‬
Host/Producer – Mike Pengra
Video – Derek Ramirez
Audio – Eric Xu Romani
Graphics – Natalia Toledo
Digital Producer – Luke Taylor

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