[Cover photo credit to Aaron Cansler]

Korean-American artist Andrew Choi has announced his fifth album as St. Lenox, titled Ten Modern American Work Songs due out October 25, 2024 via Don Giovanni Records / Anyway Records. The progressive, queer artist draws on his life experience to “raise questions about the definition of success and the journey through higher education and the American workforce.”

Lead single “Rudy” out now, is a “ballad about a career-driven protagonist, envious of a classmate who has prioritized family over professional ambition.” Its accompanying official video, titled “How to Get a Table at Tatiana”, shows how difficult it is to get restaurant reservations at Tatiana, the New York Times No. 1 Restaurant in New York City.

Andrew Choi grew up “with the narrative that quality work and education would eventually lead to personal salvation and provide a path to upward mobility.” He pursued that by going to New York City to study violin at Julliard on weekends as a teenager, graduating magna cum laude from Princeton University, earning a PhD in philosophy in his 30s, attending law school at NYU Law, and working in Manhattan at a law firm.

He did this all “while simultaneously grappling with the struggles of modern working life: low wages, massive student debt, and burnout.” This is all channeled into Ten Modern American Work Songs, which is dedicated to the NYU Law Class of 2014 on its 10th anniversary.

Choi says:

I want the record to be a snapshot of work life in modern times. I try my best in these records to provide a kind of realism.  I want the listener to come away with a vivid feeling of what it’s like to work these days. Because ultimately that kind of realism is motivating to people on an ethical and political level.