Not long after the dissolution of his band EZTV, songwriter Ezra Tenenbaum resurfaced with new project Ezrat. The group carried forward Tenenbaum's tendencies towards blithe melodies and gentle, jangly indie pop and paisley underground-modeled psychedelia, delivering their first set of songs on the self-released 2020 album Carousel. The seeds for Ezrat were planted when New York-based group EZTV went on hiatus after a lengthy stretch of touring and principal songwriter Tenenbaum used the downtime to begin demoing new material. Throughout 2017 and 2018, EZTV offered up a few spare tracks, but Tenenbaum eventually transitioned away from the project to focus on the new songs he was writing. With help from ex EZTV drummer Michael Stasiak, saxophonist Kyle Forester, and a host of other friends and auxiliary players, Tenenbaum entered the studio and refined the best songs from dozens of rough home demos. The dreamy, mildly psychedelic sessions resulted in the first Ezrat album, Carousel, released online by the band in May of 2020 with a vinyl release planned for later that year. ~ Fred Thomas