Alex Lifeson plans to release new music later this year as part of a project called Envy of None with Coney Hatch bassist/singer Andy Curran and singer Maiah Wynne.
The Rush guitarist has been busy with a variety of studio projects since his last tour. He told Sweetwater in a new interview that Envy of None has been in the works since shortly after the 'R40' tour.
Curran, a longtime friend of Rush who spent time working for the band, asked Lifeson circa 2016-17 to play guitar on some music he'd been writing. A few months later, Curran sent more tracks and the pair "started getting more serious." As they developed the Envy of None sound, they recruited Wynne to handle lead vocals.
"So we've basically done an album's worth of material that we hope to release sometime soon," Lifeson told Sweetwater. "I'm really excited about that."
Lifeson would not provide a clear timeline for when the album would arrive, noting that the state of the industry has changed dramatically since the last Rush studio album in 2012.
"All the music is recorded," he said. "We are mixing currently. We're in a good place, but it's very challenging. The industry is so, so very different than it was certainly 10 years ago, never mind last year. We'll see. Hopefully late summer, early fall we might have something. But we are very, very excited about it. It's pretty cool stuff, I think."
Speaking to Ultimate Classic Rock recently, Curran described Envy of None as a departure from the signature styles of Rush or Coney Hatch. He described the album's 10 songs as something like "Massive Attack with a little bit of some electronic stuff with Nine Inch Nails influences, with this beautiful, fragile, sweet voice and some very, very dark heavy sounds."
After Rush's retirement, Lifeson quickly pivoted to session work and one-off collaborations with different artists. In addition to mulling a solo album for several years, the guitarist has expressed hopes that he and Geddy Lee will be able to make music together again.
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