Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist, bandleader and composer James Weir is gearing up to release new material under his Blue Earth Sound moniker, following last year’s debut album Cicero Nights, which was one of our Album Picks of 2025. Entitled The St. Louis Sessions, the forthcoming EP finds Weir building on the jazz-inflected and cinematic sound of his debut, with a more spontaneous approach. The 5-track EP was recorded in St. Louis, Missouri, and is centred around the home studio of drummer and longtime collaborator Austin LeMoine, where a series of informal sessions brought together a small group of musicians, including local horn players Jawaad Spaan and Josiah Burton. Visiting from Chicago with some demos, Weir used the sessions as a space to experiment and develop ideas in real time, with live takes shaping the final recordings and much like with Cicero Nights, placing collaboration at the core of the project. Weir shares:

“Austin was hip to some local brass players, Jawaad Spaan and Josiah Burton, from the St. Louis scene that we invited over for an experimental session tracked in his living room. After bonding over shared taste and drinks, we recorded the horn takes live together over my demos.”

The St. Louis Sessions EP arrives on April 8th through DeepMatter Records, and ahead of it, Blue Earth Sound has shared the magnetizing and lulling lead single ‘Chartreuse’. Take a listen below.