Alexander Ebert, lead singer of Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros, releases his debut solo album ‘Alexander’ through Rough Trade. The album includes ten brand new songs that Alexander wrote and composed entirely himself.

During breaks from touring with the Zeros over the past year, Alexander began building and recording the pieces that would become the songs for this album alone in his bedroom. Before this album, all of the music he worked on had been collaborative, especially with the 10-person Magnetic Zeros. “I wanted to be able to build an album basically with my hands, like building a house by myself,” Alexander remarked of his inspiration for making this album without outside help.

There isn’t a single sound on the album that Alexander didn’t perform himself. When he knew that he wanted to use a violin on the bridge of ‘Glimpses’, he had an urge to call a friend to come play it for him, but then questioned why he wouldn’t try it himself. Says Alexander, “To me, it’s a very humble album with sky’s-the-limit sort of qualities, and so I didn’t really shy away from doing whatever I felt like doing.”

As for the music itself, Alexander explains that some of the inspirations for the ‘mouth sounds’ throughout the record were from all-time-favourites of his like the 1970 chart-topping ditty ‘In The Summertime’ by Mungo Jerry. He also notes that children’s clapping games like Patty Cake and infectious and optimistic Disney tunes like ‘Zip A Dee Do Da’ served as loose inspirations for him.

Alexander will play select shows before returning to the studio to complete work on the upcoming second album from Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeroes, which will be released later this year.