Mike Lorenz - I'm Not There

As 2024 came to an end, Mike Lorenz pledged that 2025 would be a year of forward motion — a return to leading his own projects after several years of artistic redirection. It had been six years since he last released an album under his own name, having spent that time exploring more folk-adjacent territory with his band the Witherbees. The pandemic disrupted the momentum he had been steadily building as a bandleader, followed by a period of personal and professional upheaval. By 2024, the sense of waiting was palpable. 2025 was determined to be different.

During the slower years of the pandemic, Lorenz quietly amassed a large book of new music and developed a renewed connection to the guitar. Stepping away from the pedals and electronic textures that shaped earlier records like speak between and Mike Lorenz & the Witherbees, he found himself drawn increasingly toward acoustic guitar. The music began to shed the devices common in modern jazz recordings, instead embracing melody, form, and harmony drawn from a broader scope of Lorenz’s listening and songwriting instincts. Over time, nearly forty pieces took shape, eventually distilled into what would become I’m Not There.

The fourteen compositions that Lorenz brought to the recording session span nearly five years, from 2020 through 2024, and together tell a loose narrative of a relationship unraveling amid broader life changes. From a wider perspective, the music reflects Lorenz’s attempt to come to terms with loss — of relationships, of professional footing, and of places and communities to which he had devoted years of his life. While deeply personal in origin, the music's accessibility and directness invite the listener into something more universal.

One of the earliest pieces, “Renovated Heart,” became a touchstone for the entire record. “That song is at the core of what I’m trying to demonstrate with this record,” Lorenz explains. “It came to me in about ten minutes and felt completely different from anything I had written before. It was direct and immediate — a song first, not something to jam on. It ended up being the spark for everything that followed.”

As the material continued to develop, Lorenz noticed a distinct aesthetic emerging, shaped by the music he was living with at the time. Alongside his favorite jazz recordings, artists like Jeff Tweedy, Elliott Smith, and Sam Amidon were in heavy rotation. “Something started to take shape that felt like the work of a songwriter or storyteller,” Lorenz says, “but played by improvising musicians.”

That sensibility defines I’m Not There. “Where Do You Go?” and “I Don’t Have Time to Love You” reveal contrasting sides of Lorenz’s writing. “Never Seen” and “Aimless” are built on tension, space, and shifting harmony. Acoustic guitar drives the record’s sound and shape. On “Beta” and “We Used to Talk All the Time,” the music opens up, moving from restraint to release, with flashes of the ecstatic spirit associated with the Keith Jarrett European Quartet.

At the heart of the record is the deep musical relationship between Lorenz, bassist Sandy Eldred, and drummer Matt Scarano. Having performed and recorded together for close to two decades, the trio shares a level of trust that allows for vulnerability and restraint. “We know where to go with each other and when someone needs saving,” Lorenz reflects. “I don’t think I could have made this kind of record without that foundation.” The result is the sound of three seasoned musicians listening closely, breathing together, and moving forward with intention on I’m Not There. 

Mike Lorenz, acoustic & electric guitar
Sandy Eldred, bass
Matt Scarano, drums

Recorded by John Anthony at Gradwell House Recording, February 2025
Mixed and edited by John Anthony
Mastered by G&J Audio

Cover artwork by Gabriel Magliaro
Art direction & layout by Jon Billet

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