E.G. Phillips Maps the Absurd and the Sublime

Across four songs, Phillips crafts a travel diary that feels both cinematic and deeply personal. The opening track, “Nevada,” is a hypnotic meditation on escape and loss. Against a sparse, mantra-like backdrop, Phillips sings of heading west “to lose myself in the desert,” a line that resonates like a modern American myth of disappearance and self-discovery.

Then comes the delightfully bizarre “The Evil Pooh Bear of San Felipe.” Awash with trumpet flourishes inspired by Charles Mingus’s New Tijuana Moods, the song transforms the Baja Peninsula into a surreal dreamscape of shrimp cocktails, desert highways, and a menacing cartoon bear. It’s playful, uncanny, and unmistakably E.G. Phillips — where humor and unease dance in perfect sync.

“Travel often becomes an inspiration for songs for me..”

The emotional core of the record lies in “Further Than I’ve Ever Been Before,” a sweeping ballad that journeys through Patagonia, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor while simultaneously charting the inner terrain of longing and loss. Critics have already praised it as “epic, almost mythical” (NenesButler) and “emotionally vibrant poetry” (Boulimique de Musique).

Closing the EP is “Half My Age,” a tender vignette set in a diner in Peterborough, New Hampshire. With the quiet intimacy of a film’s final scene, it captures a fleeting connection — a spark of attraction and nostalgia over pie and coffee — before time and distance dissolve it.

“Travel often becomes an inspiration for songs for me,” Phillips reflects. “There’s so much to draw on — the beauty, the local color, the oddities — and the self-reflection that comes from being completely re-oriented.”

Rooted in what he wryly calls “a country called the Midwest,” Phillips has long stood out for his jazz-infused alternative Americana — a lyrical style rich in wit, storytelling, and cinematic imagery. His songs, produced here by Kenny Schick (b3pmusic), carry a warmth and eccentricity that feel both timeless and refreshingly original.

With Travelogues, E.G. Phillips delivers more than a set of songs — he offers a compass to navigate the strange, poetic geography of existence.

Tracklist

Nevada (2:25)

The Evil Pooh Bear of San Felipe (2:21)

Further Than I’ve Ever Been Before (2:09)

Half My Age (6:29)

Credits
E.G. Phillips – Lead Vocals
Kenny Schick – Guitars, Bass, Drums, Keys, Banjo, Production
Peter Cloclasure – Accordion
Zachery Douglas – Trumpet
ArtemsiaBlack – Backing Vocals
Produced, Mixed & Mastered by Kenny Schick, b3pmusic
Vocals recorded at ToneFreq (San Jose) by Steve Glaze