The Early is Alex Lewis (guitars, synthesizers) and Jake Nussbaum (drums, electronics). The two began playing music together in high school during the apex of post-rock,  fixated on acts like Do Make Say Think, Jim O’Rourke and Tortoise. Reunited in Philadelphia in 2019, the two have spent the past seven years reinventing their shared musical language, infusing the textural grandeur of post-rock with the communicational intimacy of jazz improvisation, the patient grooves of minimalism, electronica, and drone. Their 2026 release, I Want To Be Ready (Island House Recordings) was described by Record Crates United as “drifty, minimalist jazz fusion soundscapes that hum, drone and rumble like the atmosphere of a clockwork city.”



Press for I Want To Be Ready:
I Want To Be Ready suggests that post-rock’s vitality doesn’t have to lie in rapturous explosion, but rather in the tension that precedes it – suspended in an ornate half-space that resists release without ever relinquishing intensity.”  - The Quietus

“Lewis feeds curling notes and feedback streams into a swirl of loops... Nussbaum’s drumming cycles a continuous array of changing colors through persistent grooves... The LP’s tracks shuffle between looseness and intricacy, generally most involving when they manage to combine both at the same time.” - The Wire

“Like the rest of their impressive discography, I Want to Be Ready sees the Early transporting and transcending, exploring the textures their unique instrumentation provides.” - PopMatters

“The record elevates The Early towards the ranks of the West Coast’s strain at the ETA. It’s been a banner few years for exploratory forms of fusion, but this one should sit nicely alongside your recent pickups from International Anthem and Eremite.” - Raven Sings the Blues


Additional press for I Want to Be Ready
Record Crates UnitedSomething  ElseKLOF MagThe Old Grey CatMonolith CocktailRosy Overdrive  


Press for Cusp EP:
“The three pieces on it sound very much like one piece, only an instant of white space drop out to indicate where tracks begin and end. And yet, there is a progression to them, as the session moves from jingling, glistening minimalism to primal propulsive jazz rock, to a dream-fugue finale decked with Patrick Shiroishi’s saxophone.”- Dusted

“It takes its time sifting through thickets of scrabble before building to a churn of decaying chords and collapsing beats that carrom into [Patrick Shiroishi’s] spiralling lines.” - The Wire

“Succumb to the waves of mind-melting experimental rock and art rock improv that flow into your ears from The Early’s latest offering... This is turn out the lights late at night, headphone music.” - Twisted Soul

“Sounds the way I imagine a weather map would if, indeed, weather maps were translated into notes and chords.” - The Old Grey Cat

Press for Impatient:
“Deftly elemental... sprawling tundras of white noise, rumbling guitar fuzz and hypnotic beats.” - Record Crates United

“A rainstorm of electric sound.” - WXPN

“A stream of grandeur, illuminating hidden messages filtering through angular arrangements and textured percussive waves.” - Foxy Digitalis

 
Music available at Bandcamp.
Instagram @TheEarlyBand
Email: theearlyband [at] gmail [dot] com
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