Third Coast Percussion and Jlin Release VERNACULAR Album on Rockwell Records

Third Coast Percussion, the Chicago-based percussion quartet, and electronic music artist Jlin have released a new album, Vernacular, on Rockwell Records. The album is described in the release as featuring brand-new arrangements of some of Jlin's works reimagined for live electronics and acoustic percussion quartet, as well as new works composed specifically for all five performers.

Called 'immensely enjoyable' and 'prodigiously gifted' (Gramophone), Third Coast Percussion has, according to the release, enjoyed a long partnership with Pulitzer Prize finalist Jlin, born of their shared roots in the Chicago music scene.

The album's first single, Premonition, commissioned from Jlin by New York's 92nd Street Y, features the four Third Coast Percussion artists and Jlin in performance together, blending the group's contemporary classical training with Jlin's electronic technique.

In addition to the featured tracks by Jlin, the Vernacular album includes an original arrangement of Philip Glass's Mishima / Closing, as well as a five-part work by David Longstreth, frontman for Dirty Projectors, entitled Butterfly Dancing Over a Barrel. The release marks the 25th feature album for Third Coast Percussion, which can also be heard as a contributor on 17 additional recordings.

The Vernacular program will also be performed live by Third Coast Percussion and Jlin on European and U.S. tours this season. Following its Chicago premiere on October 15, 2026, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the touring program will be performed on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at the Barbican Centre in London; Tuesday, November 3, 2026, at the Philharmonie de Paris; Wednesday, November 4, 2026, at Le Lieu Unique in Nantes; Thursday, November 5, 2026, at Bozar (Centre for Fine Arts of Brussels) in Brussels; Wednesday, November 11, 2026, at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ in Amsterdam; Thursday, November 12, 2026, at Parkstad Limburg in Heerlen, the Netherlands; and Saturday, November 14, 2026, at the Romaeuropa Festival in Rome.

Vernacular returns to U.S. stages for a spring 2027 tour, beginning Friday, March 5, 2027, at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, followed by a performance on Saturday, March 6, 2027, at New York's Carnegie Hall. The tour continues on Friday, April 2, 2027, at the University of Colorado Boulder; on Tuesday, April 6, 2027, at the Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts (PRAx) at Oregon State University in Corvallis, OR; on Wednesday, April 7, 2027, at OSU-Cascades at the Tower Theatre in Bend, OR; and on Thursday, April 8, 2027, at the Mondavi Center in Davis, CA.

Tracklist

1. Jlin – Premonition – 4:47

2. Jlin – Vernacular – 5:20

3. Jlin – Carbon 12 – 6:11

4. Jlin – Grannie's Cherry Pie – 3:45

5. Jlin – Five Perspectives – 4:29

6. Jlin – Summon – 4:11

7. Jlin – LC3 – 5:48

David Longstreth – Butterfly Dancing Over a Barrel

8. I. All Right All Along – 4:18

9. II. What You Call – 4:36

10. III. Drop Down Menu – 6:36

11. IV. 21st Twentieth Century – 4:51

12. V. Coda – 2:13

13. Philip Glass – Mishima / Closing – 3:56

TT: 61:01

Credits

Performers: Third Coast Percussion (Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore); Jlin, electronics, percussion

Composers and Arrangers: Premonition by Jlin arr. by Sean Connors; Vernacular by Jlin co-composed by Sean Connors; Carbon 12 by Jlin arr. by Peter Martin; Grannie's Cherry Pie by Jlin arr. by Robert Dillon; Five Perspectives by Jlin co-composed by Peter Martin; Summon by Jlin arr. by David Skidmore; LC3 by Jlin co-composed by David Skidmore; Butterfly Dancing Over a Barrel by David Longstreth arr. by David Longstreth and Third Coast Percussion; Mishima / Closing by Philip Glass arr. by Peter Martin

Producer: Colin Campbell

Session Engineer: Taylor Hales

Editing and Mixing: Colin Campbell and Taylor Hales

Assistant Producer: Seth Lauver

Studio Assistant: Lauren MacDonald

Mastering Engineer: Joe Lambert

Recorded: May 4-8, 2026, at Electrical Audio

Artwork and Design: © 2026 Sonnenzimmer LLC, Nick Butcher, and Nadine Nakanishi

Liner Notes: Robert Dillon and David Skidmore

Publishers: Premonition, Grannie's Cherry Pie, Five Perspectives, Carbon 12, Summon, LC3, and Vernacular © Jlin. All rights administered worldwide by Decca Publishing, a division of Universal Music Publishing Ltd.

Butterfly Dancing Over a Barrel © Embassy Music Corporation

Mishima / Closing © Dunvagen Music Publishers, Inc. Used by permission. (ASCAP)

About Third Coast Percussion

Third Coast Percussion (TCP) is Chicago's GRAMMY Award-winning percussion quartet and GRAMMY-nominated composer collective that made history as the first percussion ensemble to win the award in the classical genre. To date, TCP has garnered seven total GRAMMY nominations, with the individual musicians receiving two additional nominations.

Now in its third decade, TCP carries on its tradition of performances worldwide that 'push percussion in new directions, blurring musical boundaries and beguiling new listeners' (NPR). Representing 'one of the most enterprising and creative ensembles working today' (WFMT), the artists of Third Coast Percussion have worked closely with a range of artists including choreographers Twyla Tharp, Lil Buck, and Jon Boogz; composer/performers Zakir Hussain, Jessie Montgomery, and Jlin; and composers Philip Glass, Missy Mazzoli, and Danny Elfman, among others. The ensemble has been praised for the 'rare power' (The Washington Post) of its 40+ recordings, and its 'inspirational sense of fun and curiosity' (Minnesota Star Tribune).

Among the highlights of its 2026-2027 season, the ensemble appears at Carnegie Hall on a tour of its new Vernacular program with Jlin, combining live electronic performances by Jlin herself with acoustic renditions of Jlin's works by TCP, plus new works performed by all five artists. TCP also embarks on a tour of its new program Ripples in the Water: Philip Glass at 90, which includes the ensemble's Philadelphia debut. The season's domestic tours also bring it to New York, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Richmond, and beyond, for a total of more than two dozen U.S. engagements. International tour dates include performances in London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Rome. The season also features a full slate of hometown performances in Chicago. The artists will hold residencies at the University of Richmond and George Mason University, and lead educational workshops at multiple tour stops.

TCP has performed live in 43 of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., plus international tour dates across four continents and 18 countries, amassing more than 300,000 total audience members.

TCP has commissioned and premiered new works from Zakir Hussain, Jessie Montgomery, Philip Glass, Clarice Assad, Danny Elfman, Jlin, Tigran Hamasyan, Augusta Read Thomas, Devonté Hynes, Missy Mazzoli, Ivan Trevino, and Tyondai Braxton, and developed fresh perspectives on percussion composition through its annual Currents Creative Partnership. Jlin's Perspective, a TCP commission, was a 2023 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

TCP's recordings include 25 feature albums and appearances on 17 additional collaborative releases, including a GRAMMY-winning album of Steve Reich's works for percussion. Its 20th anniversary album, Standard Stoppages (Cedille Records), was nominated for a 2025 GRAMMY.

The four members of Third Coast Percussion (Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore) met while studying percussion at Northwestern University and formed the ensemble in 2005. Members of Third Coast also hold degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Rutgers University, the New England Conservatory, and the Yale School of Music.

About Jlin

Jlin (Jerrilynn Patton) has been praised as 'one of the most forward-thinking contemporary composers in any genre' (Pitchfork). She is a recipient of a 2023 US Artist award and was a 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Her mini-album Perspective was released on Planet Mu in 2023. Her albums Dark Energy (2015) and Black Origami (2017) have appeared on 'Best of' lists in The New York Times, The Wire, LA Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and Vogue. Jlin has been commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, Third Coast Percussion, the Pathos Quartet, choreographers Wayne McGregor and Kyle Abraham, fashion designer Rick Owens, and the visual artists Nick Cave and Kevin Beasley. Her previous release, Akoma (Planet Mu, March 2024), features collaborations with Philip Glass, Björk, and the Kronos Quartet. More information is available at www.jlintheinnovator.com.

About David Longstreth

Composer David Longstreth has previously been commissioned by Bang On A Can, s t a r g a z e, the Barbican Centre, the Helsinki Festival, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Carnegie Hall and the National Concert Hall, Dublin. Longstreth is also the founder of Dirty Projectors, a mainstay in the pop and indie rock worlds since the band's inception in 2002. Two of the group's albums, Bitte Orca (2009) and Swing Lo Magellan (2012), are widely regarded as classics of the 2000s and 2010s. Beyond his songwriting work as Dirty Projectors, Longstreth is a prolific co-writer and producer, with notable highlights including writing / producing credits on Solange Knowles' GRAMMY-winning A Seat at the Table and a co-writing credit on Rihanna's 'FourFive Seconds,' a #1 international hit. He wrote the short album Mount Wittenberg Orca for Björk and Dirty Projectors, and has also written songs with David Byrne. His 2025 release, Song Of The Earth, is a song cycle performed by Dirty Projectors and s t a r g a z e, released by Nonesuch / New Amsterdam Records / Transgressive Records. Also in 2025, Longstreth composed scores for two feature films: an orchestral score for A24's The Legend Of Ochi, starring Willem Dafoe and Emily Watson, and a two-piano score for Bleecker Street's Love Me, starring Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun. More information is available at www.davidlongstreth.com.