[Cover photo credit to Anja Schütz]
This Friday, April 3rd, 2026, multi-Grammy-winning vocal group Roomful of Teeth and singer/songwriter, and composer Gabriel Kahane will release their LP Elevator Songs via Octoverse Media and Warner Music Group’s Arts Music.
The album is an “exercise in world-building” which is “set in an interdimensional hotel unshackled from the laws of time and space.” The songs look into the “private lives of a group of richly imagined characters, each one embodied by a different member of Roomful of Teeth.”
Recently, Kahane and Roomful of Teeth have shared the single + visualizer “St. Vincent’s Hospital.” A meditation on the track’s namesake, which is a site entwined with the history of AIDS care, the song is sung by Steven Bradshaw, supported by vocal harmonies and counterpoint.
Alongside the track is a lyric video made by Robert Edridge-Waks that “depicts embracing queer couples fading in and out of focus, underscoring the fragile and fleeting nature of their time together.”
While writing this song, Kahane ruminated on the passing of a close friend and mentor who died of AIDS, and his own efforts to hold onto his friend’s memory.
He says:
I don’t remember exactly how I got to this story, but I believe it began with thinking about my late friend Michael Friedman, a brilliant musical theater composer who died of AIDS in 2017. This led me down the path of thinking about an earlier generation of artists who were felled by AIDS, and somehow this image of a man flying from San Francisco to New York to eulogize a young friend came to me.
Roomful of Teeth and Kahane will be heading on a US tour this month, hitting New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and more.
The physical album is available for pre-sale on vinyl and CD, both containing the complete lyrics and sleeve notes with design by John Gall. In addition, a limited edition blue colorway version of the vinyl is available and comes with a frame-able 12 x 12 two-sided art print.
The first 500 fans to pre-order any version of Elevator Songs from the band’s online store will receive a card signed by Kahane and Roomful of Teeth’s artistic director, Cameron Beauchamp. More information and pre-orders are available here.
Tour Dates:
April 17 Burlington, VT @ UVM Recital Hall
April 18 Groton, MA @ Groton Hill Music Center
April 19 New York, NY @ 92nd Street Y
April 21 Nashville, TN @ Belcourt Theatre
April 24 Chicago, IL @ Constellation
April 26 Los Angeles, CA @ Sid the Cat Auditorium
