Article Contributed by Missing Piece Group
Published on 2026-03-13
Psychedelic Dub-Jazz Collective Club d’Elf Announces New Album Loon & Thrush Out April 10
For nearly three decades, psychedelic dub-jazz collective Club d’Elf has existed at the crossroads of trance, improvisation, and global groove. Now the boundary-pushing ensemble is preparing to release a new chapter in that ongoing exploration with Loon & Thrush, arriving April 10 via Royal Potato Family.
Recorded entirely live in the studio with minimal overdubs, the album captures the raw, ecstatic energy that has defined the group’s sound since its formation in 1998. Alongside the announcement, the band has shared a striking Moroccan-infused reinterpretation of the Grateful Dead classic “Bird Song.”
Built around a North African chaabi groove and featuring Bonnie Raitt band guitarist Duke Levine on electric sitar, the track reimagines the Dead’s beloved composition through the hypnotic lens of Gnawa-influenced trance. The performance channels both reverence and transformation, allowing the song’s improvisational spirit to travel far beyond its California origins.
Frontman, bassist, and composer Mike Rivard says the Grateful Dead were foundational to his musical identity.
“The Dead were such a huge influence on me as a teenager in the late ’70s, and I traveled all over the Midwest where I grew up to see them play,” Rivard explains. “Their trippy improvisational side really drew me in, as well as the culture surrounding the band and the sense of tribal community. Even though our sound is very different, the Dead’s music has always been part of my DNA.”
The idea for the arrangement grew from Rivard experimenting with the melody over a North African groove taught to the band by longtime collaborator Brahim Fribgane. Though Fribgane passed away in 2024 before the album sessions took place, his influence remains deeply embedded in the music.
“Even though he isn’t physically present on the track, I felt his spirit guiding us in the studio,” Rivard says. “The jam in the middle has a Dead-goes-to-Morocco vibe.”
The album also features another Grateful Dead interpretation, “New Speedway Boogie,” with Rivard performing on sintir, grounding the Dead’s Americana in the earthy resonance of North African trance traditions.
Beyond the Dead covers, Loon & Thrush primarily consists of Rivard originals shaped by Fribgane’s teachings and legacy. Since joining the group in 1999, the Casablanca-born musician introduced the band to Gnawa—a centuries-old spiritual music rooted in repetition, ritual, and ecstatic groove. Over time, Moroccan trance evolved from a stylistic influence into a central pillar of Club d’Elf’s identity.
Fribgane’s passing weighed heavily over the sessions.
“Going into the recording of this album was a very heavy time for the band, as we had just lost Brahim,” Rivard shares. “This would be the first album we had done without him, and the thought of never being able to play with him again was a reality that was very hard to grasp.”
As the music unfolded, an unexpected theme began to emerge: flight. The imagery surfaces throughout the record, from the avian symbolism of the title track and “Bird Song” to the band’s real-time improvisational journeys and the feeling of Fribgane’s spirit guiding the music from beyond.
Over the past 28 years, Club d’Elf has cultivated a fiercely loyal underground following while continually reinventing itself through a rotating cast of adventurous improvisers. Their unique blend of dub, electronica, jazz, Gnawa, hip-hop, progressive rock, and ritual trance has drawn admiration from fellow musicians including Dead & Company bassist Oteil Burbridge and Phish bassist Mike Gordon.
Gordon recalls discovering the band through a fan recommendation.
“I have a friend who said her favorite two bands were Phish and Club d’Elf, so I thought I better check ’em out sometime,” Gordon says. “I was pleasantly surprised to find a band that is bass-forward—believe it or not, I like that aspect—and with some great players. It’s really cool to watch Michael Rivard switch from a regular bass to the Moroccan sintir and make them both sound so primal and deep.”
With Loon & Thrush, Club d’Elf enters a new phase—one that honors the band’s past, carries forward the teachings of Brahim Fribgane, and continues its long exploration into trance, improvisation, transformation, and flight.
Listen to “Bird Song”:
https://orcd.co/clubbirdsong
Pre-order / pre-save Loon & Thrush:
https://orcd.co/loonandthrush
Loon & Thrush Tracklist
1. Bird Song
2. Loon and Thrush
3. Left Hand of Clyde
4. Softly
5. New Speedway Boogie
6. Second Line
7. Dux Lux
8. Atlas Mountain Hop
9. Like a Silence
10. Level Up Your Soul
Tour Dates
April 8 – Portsmouth, NH – Jimmy’s
April 9 – Waitsfield, VT – Big Picture Theater
April 10 – Holyoke, MA – De La Luz
April 11 – Portland, ME – Oxbow
April 12 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
April 18 – Rochester, NY – Three Heads Brewing
April 23 – Woodstock, NY – Colony
April 24 – Albany, NY – The Egg
May 3 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Bowl
May 9 – New Hope, PA – Dharma Bums
