Everything Is Recorded explores the softer side of electronica on ‘Temporary’

What if folk music had gone digital in the ’80s?

That might not be a question you’ve put to yourself, but it’s one that Richard Russell had been ruminating on as he worked on his latest album as Everything Is Recorded. Since 2018, the owner of British label XL Recordings has released music under the moniker, often calling upon many of the musicians that call XL home.

Like his previous albums, Temporary boasts an impressive roster of collaborators: Florence Welch, Sampha, Bill Callahan, Kamasi Washington, Noah Cyrus and more. Temporary is also underpinned by that hypothetical timeline where folk music had been digitized.

Russell admits the folk genre is not one that interested him as a young person. He says he was more interested in the exciting, nascent world of electronic music. But with time and age, the soft strum of acoustic music began to resonate more.

In this session, Russell talks about assembling the features on Temporary, creating a record about loss that feels joyous, and about his early days as a record producer.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.