St. Lenox is about to follow up 2021’s Ten Songs Of Worship And Praise For Our Tumultuous Times with the form-maintaining Ten Modern American Work Songs. The 11-track(!) album is dedicated to the NYU law school class of 2014, and it delves into the false promises of education, employment, and upward mobility. It’s a subject St. Lenox mastermind Andrew Choi knows something about after spending his teens traveling to Julliard on weekends, graduating magna cum laude from Princeton, then getting both a philosophy PhD and a law degree.

“I want the record to be a snapshot of work life in modern times,” Choi says in a press release. “I try my best in these records to provide a kind of realism. I want the listener to come away with a vivid feeling of what it’s like to work these days. Because ultimately that kind of realism is motivating to people on an ethical and political level.”

Lead single “Rudy” largely casts Choi’s forceful voice against acoustic guitar and organ, though a tastefully minimal pop arrangement does unfold eventually. Choi’s lyrics lightly satirize the grindset, and in the accompanying video “How To Get A Table At Tatiana,” he responds to his inability to get a reservation at the acclaimed NYC restaurant by doing some home cooking. Watch below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “(Eulogy For The Company Man)”
02 “Courtesan”
03 “Lust For Life”
04 “Kalahari”
05 “Rudy”
06 “New York Speaks Softly At Night”
07 “Quasi-Nichomachean Ethics”
08 “Luray Caverns”
09 “The House I Left For Work In New York”
10 “Your Local Neighborhood Bar”
11 “On Fulfillment”

Ten Modern American Work Songs is out 10/25 on Don Giovanni/Anyway. Pre-order it here.