Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner to Release Studio Version of His ’41 Strings’ Orchestral Project

Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner will finally release a formal studio recording of his orchestral song cycle, 41 Strings, which was first commissioned for a special Earth Day event in 2011.

41 Strings comprises four movements, each corresponding to a respective season. The project blends classical and rock elements as the recording of “Fall” captures, its swooning strings getting a jolt from a steady marching snare and then later the restless buzz of an electric guitar.

Including its 2011 debut, Zinner has performed 41 Strings just four times, because the production is such an undertaking. The piece was first performed in New York City in 2011, then at the Sydney Opera House for the Sydney Festival in 2012, and London’s Royal Festival Hall for Meltdown Festival in 2014. The most recent performance took place at Rockefeller Plaza in 2019, where Zinner was accompanied by a 51-person orchestra and artists like Interpol’s Paul Banks, the Patti Smith Group’s Lenny Kaye, and LCD Soundsystem’s Nancy Whang.

It was after the Rockefeller Center performance that Zinner decided to officially release a recorded version of 41 Strings. In fact, he’s been sitting on the recording for over a decade, cutting it at Water Music in Hoboken, New Jersey, in May 2011, not long after the piece was first performed. The recording was then remastered back in June 2020.

41 Strings is available to pre-order and will be released digitally and as a vinyl LP on July 1 via Chaikin Records.