On the 22nd of May 2024, Adhyâropa Records will release Jacob Jolliff’s Instrumentals Vol. 2: Mandolin Mysteries, the latest in the series of acoustic releases from Jolliff. It’s a follow up to his 2018 release, Instrumentals, Vol. 1.

Jolliff says:

There’s a theme running through the album that this could be music to accompany a mystery or dimestore book, hence the name. Vera is named after a detective show, and The Art Heist Suite has a fun James Bond spy thriller feel to it.

Jolliff notes about this music:

It’s different making a record now that I’m in my mid-30’s; I was 27 when the first Instrumentals album came out. When I listen back to my older music I can really hear the difference in my playing from then to now. At that age there’s still a sense that you have something to prove and that’s not a bad thing in your 20s – there’s a certain type of tune I would write back then that I still enjoy but these days there’s something else I’m trying to express through my writing and playing. I wrote most of this album at the piano, which was a great way to open up new possibilities. I don’t really play piano that well, just well enough to pick out melodies, but in that creative space I was able to just focus on developing melodies rather than executing what I already know is technically possible on my primary instrument.

Jolliff’s accomplices on the album are George Jackson on fiddle, Ross Martin on guitar, and Myles Sloniker on bass. The album’s centerpiece, the three-movement Art Heist Suite, was originally written for FreshGrass as part of their Concerto Commissioning program.