It's been five years since the last ER Jurken album. Five years! As we roll into the new year, we're relieved to say the wait is nearly over. His second album, To Be Continued, is out January 30th, and today ER's sharing another taste of what's coming. On his new single "Mighty and Concealed," ER & his pocket orchestra raise themselves up to towering heights on a gorgeously surreal rock mini-epic that recalls progressive rock’s gaudy yesteryears. As the band rages and pounds, ten strings and four horns take shifts spurring them over the top. Jurken’s singsong melody and multitracked harmonies patrol the borderline, stepping gingerly down a paranoid path with OCD-guided deliberation. The message? ER puts it: "A bill comes for something you'd forgotten and for more than you can afford. You can lock it back up in the mailbox and walk out of the lobby, but eventually you have to face the fact that it's not some kind of special mailbox that has the power to make bills disappear."

The years between ER's first record (I Stand Corrected) and his second full-length piled up in a hurry, but what years they were! On top of all the American politty-go round, ER personally dealt with the end of a romantic relationship, the daily struggles that come with working and growing older, and a frustrating period of writer’s block. Novel things that profoundly impacted ER, to be sure. When the new tunes finally surfaced — requesting and requiring different styles, more conventional song structures and most of all, a shot of rock and roll — ER was there for the changes. He rounded up three members of Chicago's Junegrass (Ben Brazil, Grant Engstrom and Jack Schemenauer) and set up camp at The Loft once more to do the job right, with graceful string and horn arrangements by Paul Von Mertens.

To Be Continued shall be answered on January 30, 2026! To celebrate, ER Jurken will play a record release show at The Hideout in Chicago, with special guests Junegrass and Head. Tickets are on sale now.

ER Jurken 2026 Performances

Feb. 5 - Chicago, IL @ The Hideout (w/ Junegrass, Head)