Elvis Costello and The Roots release a new collaborative album ‘Wise Up Ghost’ today on Blue Note/Decca – a project that promises to “explode any preconceptions a listener might bring to it.”

"The last thing you want is for people to say 'Ah, I know what they're doing'" says Elvis Costello. "Then they've already heard half the record in their mind."

The idea for the album grew out of several performances together on the Jimmy Fallon show between 2009 and 2012. “We didn’t know what form it might take, whether it was a song or an EP or what” Costello continues. “But ideas kept tumbling out, and they seemed connected by an approach to rhythm and lyric writing.”

The creators of ‘Wise Up Ghost’ express no expectations and no concerns about how this unprecedented project will be received. “When you do something wildly different from that which you're known for, it can surprise or even outrage people” Costello notes. “But you don't make music based on who might not listen to it. You follow your heart.”