Kevin Bronson on June 9th, 2020

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Editor’s Note: We paused our daily QUARANTUNES series almost two weeks so the conversations about racial inequality could be amplified. Though those conversations are far from over, we resume the series today:

It is no small irony that heady post-rock duo El Ten Eleven are rolling out their most ambitious release yet — a triple-LP that follows the arc of life — during a pandemic.  Kristian Dunn and Tim Fogarty released “Tautology I” last month; check it out in today’s QUARANTUNES, along with Fogarty’s comforting playlist and discomfiting worries about the future of music venues.

THE LATEST FROM EL TEN ELEVEN

Not that they haven’t flexed their conceptual muscles before, but groundbreaking instrumental duo El Ten Eleven are thinking big for 2020. They are releasing the triple-LP “Tautology I, II & III,” the entirety of which will be released physically on Sept. 18. The three albums narrate the arc of life — “from the teenage years, through middle-age, until the end of life,” says guitar/bass player Kristian Dunn, who with Tim Fogarty celebrated the 15th anniversary of their debut album with a deluxe reissue and a tour last year.

Last month brought the release of “Tautology I” (the second installment is coming in July), and starting with the 10-minute track “Entropy” the sound is as scorched-earth as anything the duo has done over the course of their eight albums and four EPs. “I wanted to represent what my teenage years were like, when I was full of testosterone and depression,” Dunn explains. “When you’re a teenager, everything feels so grandiose and dramatic.” Dunn adds that “Tautology II” “is the one that sounds the most like the El Ten Eleven people are used to,” and for the last in the triptych he was inspired partly by the passing of a beloved family member. “I don’t know what it’s like to be elderly,” he says. “But my grandmother-in-law Frances McMaster was a very inspiring person. She died recently, and I was thinking about her a lot. She was really smart. She lived into her early 90s and she wrote her fourth book when she was 88. I’d like to be like her if I make it to that age.”

HOW ARE YOU HOLDING UP AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MANAGE THE ‘STAY AT HOME’ EDICT?

Tim Fogarty: We have been holding up OK. We have done lots of collaborations and side projects the past couple months. I have been staying away from Netflix and just using the time to learn, create and connect with friends and family.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO WHEN THIS IS OVER?

Tim Fogarty: I am looking forward to seeing what the world is going to look like post-COVID. I miss traveling. I am looking forward to shows again … I just wonder what venues will survive this.

ANYTHING WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS PLAYLIST?

Tim Fogarty: It’s a combination of things I’ve been listening to nonstop recently, things that relax me, songs that I play every day when I’m making food. No real lyrical association to the times.