This release culminates multi-year work from over a dozen contributors. Following the release of my previous rock opera concept album, a synth instrumental about the nuclear waste warning messages called Place of Honor, I felt the need to write a real rock opera with lyrics, singers, and real instruments. 20,000 Years & Still Going Strong was conceived as a six-track album exploring the concept of boundaries in interpersonal relationships. Eventually, it grew to 8 distinct tracks about an immortal man who, having lived through every artistic and technical revolution in human history since the last ice age, now in a new ice age faces a lonely and seductive AI that forces him to choose between false comfort and the risk of real connection.

Writing started early 2024. After an initial reading performance late 2024, the band and I went to GB’s Juke Joint in Queens to record most of the instrumentals. Guitarist Franco Vittore, bassist Josh Uguccioni, keyboardist Miles Wilkins, and drummer Murphy Aucamp blisteringly tracked seven songs in about 8 hours. The eighth song (which ended up as track 3) got written later when I realized the love story could use a sample of the relationship actually working at some point… which makes the eventual breakdown even more tragic.

After retooling the music and lyrics based on feedback from the reading, in the summer of 2025, we got back into the studio and laid down the vocals. We also added tenor sax by Daniel Berkey, more synth, more guitar, B3 organ, and grand piano. Plus we recorded the whole new song. Vocalist Jessica Greenfield, percussionist Daniel Sadownick, and dobro player Raymond Klassen contributed their parts remotely. I even added some of my own vocals and few splashes of flute, for the bit. Finally, Owen Mulholland, who mixed and edited earworm, did a great job editing and mixing the lengthy and layered album.

This album celebrates and carries on the classic prog rock traditions of Yes, Genesis, and Pink Floyd, with a strong dose of Broadway camp and tragedy, while lyrically deploying weapons-grade self-analytical neurosis in the vein of Poe and Woolf.

Whether you stream or listen on a CD (with 12-page lyric booklet), you’ll find lots to think about amid all the psychedelic solos in 20,000 Years & Still Going Strong.

Yucht eschews guitar and piano in his “chordless” ensemble made up of mostly-monophonic instruments, aside from the drum kit itself, to create reed and brass textures that resonate with the soul. There’s even a flute and bass clarinet at times in the album. The contributing players each brought masterful but accessible solos to the sessions, with fun and expressiveness blowing away any need for navel-gazing perfection. It gives the record a living feeling.

This first production by Future Imperfect is available as a translucent blue vinyl LP manufactured by Physical Music Products in Nashville with lacquer cut by Scott Hull of Masterdisk.

I met Leo at a gig at The Bitter End. I was tuned up enough to chuckle at his drum references to the “Poison” fill, so we hit it off. Then I saw his band at their Ornithology residence. Eventually I asked him, “When are you going to record this?” One thing led to another, and I signed on to produce it.

We booked a day at GB’s Juke Joint in Queens, where we banged out 10 tracks in a manic 12-hour session. The players are such pros.

Then we spent some overnight sessions at Owen Mulholland’s studio editing and mixing. It was just a matter of getting the excellent performances to really shine and sound as great in the final stereo product as they do in person.

The name “earworm” came up after listening to the music enough times we couldn’t get it out of our heads. We then got this idea for something with gummy worms for the front cover. We hired Xavier Kim to come snap some photos of handfuls of gummy worms thrown by Leo’s girlfriend bouncing off Leo’s face.

It was impossible to resist bringing this album into the physical world with a real LP. The translucent swirl that evokes the gummy worm motif turned out beautifully.

Whether you listen on vinyl or digital, I’m sure you will bob your head to its tunes as their catchy melodies work their way into your ears. For sure, this album is a proud first entry in the nascent catalog of Future Imperfect.