Matt Lorenz's vision, manifest in The Suitcase Junket, developed in the tension between the grand and the solitary. Grand in its imagery, sound and staging. Solitary in its thrift and self-reliance. What instruments he requires, Lorenz builds from scratch and salvage. What parts five players would perform, he performs alone. The spectacle of his one-man set bears constant comparison to legends of showmanship, brilliance, madness and invention. While audiences are captivated by his solitary form and the show itself, Lorenz, who homesteads with rescue dogs, chickens and bees in rural Western Massachusetts, is most serious about the songs. He writes a world into existence. His mind is crowded with characters, narratives, voices, imagery, sounds as varied as mountain throat singers and roadhouse juke boxes, plus newsreels of the planet's destruction and salvage. With this 2020 release, The End is New (November 20, Renew Records/BMG, produced by Steve Berlin), Lorenz’s grand vision for the song overrides the how of it.