About Jolie Holland's The Living and The Dead
Co-produced by Holland and Pakistani-born Shahzad Ismaily, 'The Living and the Dead's' production credits illustrate the collaborative improvisation that went into making her fourth record. M Ward (She & Him, My Morning Jacket) lent his production skills to a song and also played guitar on two tracks, multi-instrumentalist Ismaily added sounds via bass, moog, shruthi box and a duck call among others, famed guitarist Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello) appears on several songs and former bandmate Samantha Parton (Be Good Tanyas) sings on the final track. The results bear the evocative moodiness that has always existed in Holland's music, but also capture the rollicking creativity of the studio environment, highlighting a new influence on her songwriting that Holland explores for the first time on this release.