Out here, on the West Coast that is, the weather is always sunny. No matter what anyone tells you. There is no rain, no clouds, no smog, just sunshine and music festivals. As for music festivals, I’m positive that you, dear reader, have already taken the time to get excited about the Coachella lineup. As the hours went by and the publicity grew, so did others’ resentment at ticket prices and how the lineup seems to be the same every year. That all seems like eons ago, in internet time.
Coachella is not the only festival the West Coast has to offer, for there’s also Sasquatch and Noise Pop, the latter of which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. From Tuesday, February 21st through the 26th, San Francisco hosted tons of bands including The Flaming Lips, Cursive, Atlas Sound, Disappears (that boasts Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley), Fresh and Onlys, as well as Churches.
Churches’ music hearkens back to the days of 120 Minutes, when MTV used to actually play videos. Big fuzzed out guitars and heartfelt vocals that are deeply moving while being alternately sad or celebratory, and sometimes even a seemingly incongruous mix of the two. In their own words Churches is “loud, melodic power-pop, rooted in teen angst nostalgia and heavily reflecting its influences – Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., the Pixies. Churches is salvation through distortion for the disaffected small-town weirdo in everyone – a sonic cathedral of symbols and guitars for the modern outcast.” They have made available a new single, “Feel Alright,” ahead of their Noise Pop Fest debut on their soundcloud and bandcamp pages, and it is certainly worth checking out and downloading. Additionally, Churches is recording a special Noise Pop Daytrotter session.
Churches - "Save Me"
Churches is the new recording project of Caleb Nichols, the frontman of Oakland’s Grand Lake, former bassist of Port O’Brien, and touring member of WATERS and Release The Sunbird. On his first single, ‘SAVE ME’, Nichols teams up with WATERS frontman Van Pierszalowski and Rogue Wave drummer Pat Spurgeon. Oslo-based WATERS guitarist Nikolai Haukeland also plays. The result is two and a half minutes of melancholic, fuzzed-out power-pop, with obvious nods to heroes Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr. and contemporaries such as Wye Oak.
‘SAVE ME’ by Churches will is being self-released on bandcamp today.The track will be accompanied by remixes and the original demo, and will be sold by the band using a ‘pay what you want’ model. Additionally, 50% of digital proceeds will go directly to 826 Seattle, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center dedicated to helping youth, ages six to 18, improve their creative and expository writing skills. This is part of the wider idea behind Churches, which is to not only release music but to raise money for various awesome non-profits and charities – from the very beginning.
‘SAVE ME’ was recorded and mixed by Ian Pellicci (Deerhoof, Rogue Wave, Yann Tiersen) at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco. Produced by Van Pierszalowski. Written by Caleb Nichols. Performed by Pat Spurgeon, Nikolai Haukeland, Van Pierszalowski and Caleb Nichols.
Head over to the Churches bandcamp site right now to download the track and to make a donation to a great cause while supporting independent music.
Grand Lake, having recently released their truly wonderful EP “Leaves Ellipse” has now put out the 2nd single from that EP.
“Christmas, California”, described perfectly by Grand Lake bandleader Caleb Nichols as “drenched in springtime sunshine, total California ear-candy.” It’s a fun song and one of the many highlights of “Leaves Ellispe”.
The song will also be available on a vinyl-only compilation released on Record Store Day by Burnside Distro – also featuring HAD Records label-mates the Heavenly States, as well as the incomparable Sea Of Bees. You should definitely look for that on Record Store Day, which is April 16 this year.
Check out the song here, as well as the video that was filmed around the band’s new home of San Luis Obispo, California. The video is framed as a polaroid picture that captures the sunniness of the song.
Grand Lake are following up last years exacting, skilled and expansive album “Blood Sea Dream” with an EP that plays their hand a little closer to their chest. “Leaves Ellipse” features intimate, homespun, heartfelt melodies brought to life with the stripped down sound of acoustic guitar with clear arrangements. There is less of a focus on lead lines and the layered material that drove most of “Blood Sea Dream”.
The tunes are just as catchy but the band seems to present them in a way that is far less earnest and instead tug at the heartstrings. That the EP was recorded in small rooms in the houses of friends helps to this end. The clear and intimate, friendly tone resonates throughout. We already know how amazingly talented this band is, and now they are letting the emotions shine through in a way that was previously somewhat shrouded. It’s good to hear them have the bravery to strip away the layers and put a delicate, yet polished, side up for display.
Not that “Blood Sea Dream” was an overly electrified album, featuring shrieks of distorted electric guitars. Nor is that album completely opposite of the warmth of this EP. That album certainly has its moments of detached emotion from afar and some tunes have acoustic foundations, but the layers are piled on making the insides hard to see or feel. That’s essentially the difference with the “Leaves Ellipse” EP.
String arrangements on “City Leaves”, and throughout, sound cleaner and fit better than any of the strings on their previous effort. The ambiance is matched and they sound more a part of the ensemble instead of an addition or extra layer or afterthought. That being said the recording itself even sounds like it is coming from a closer place than the echoed expanses that “Blood Sea Dream” permeated. What struck me upon my first couple of listens was the way that the guitar tone and style characteristics present on the first album are carried over. Style is something that a band can’t really run away from. More often than not it will take at least a few releases before a style emerges. Not so with Grand Lake. This is amazing for the fact that “Leaves Ellipse” expends so much effort stripping things away. They have managed to clear away everything down to their essence. A daring move.
Grand Lake - "Leaves Ellipse"
“Leaves Ellipse” is not only mostly acoustic but there is only a very small amount of lead fills that even occur across the EPs 20 minutes, the most notable of which are featured in the closing track “Which Days Were Those Days”. That song, by the way, is a moving song that speaks of fondness for the past, remembrance and longing. It’s a song that comes to grips with the fact that change is eternal. Second track, “Christmas, California” is the most upbeat track and is full of catchy hooks. There are subtle rhythmic and metric changes in a clear, simply stated presentation. There is nothing extra and the song doesn’t go on for a second longer than it has to.
Following “Christmas, California” is the standout track “City Leaves”. Its walking bass and delicate backdrop of strings are the perfect accompaniment to the moving lyrics that repeat “waiting and waiting and waiting for sometime to happen.” To me these lyrics speak of if-onlys and what-ifs. What would happen if we just got up and followed our dreams instead of sitting around and waiting for things to happen to us? What would become of us? Is our passion matched by the people that love us, and if not, how does that play into our own plans for life? The longing is portrayed by droning strings throughout the verse that lurch into a broken rhythm in the chorus that seems to represent the desire to get up and move, to make things happen that only return to that drone in the verse. Strings play an important role in “Silver Leaves” as well, which also includes some interesting metric shifts in the chorus.
“Leaves Ellipse” was recorded in “takes”, rather than relying heavily upon punching-in and overdubs. Not that there aren’t overdubs, but each track was done in a single take, rather than editing, combining and splicing to create an aura of perfection and spotlessness. What is gained, I feel, is far more significant than can be achieved through all of the technological wizardry and that is the intimacy of a well rehearsed ensemble. Grand Lake has sidestepped technologically gained perfection in favor of cohesion of sound.
Oakland’s Grand Lake have presented a debut full-length that is fully formed in its sound, with variance from song to song but without taking huge leaps in genre in an attempt to please everybody. This clearly developed sound is obviously a result of the band having worked together for 15 years and touring with several different acts. They have a unique approach that is both inviting and catchy with clear arrangements and interesting sonic experiments that places them in the company of more established acts like Spoon.
Songs like “Carporforo” and “Oedipus Hex (Highway 1 North)” chart bluesy territory with lead guitar lines weaving through the vocals evoking the sound of early Dire Straits tunes like “Down to the Waterline” or “Sultans of Swing”. The guitar echos as it fades away from melodic lines that never take up too much space, and this is an album that is concerned with the proper use of space. The bass picks up the role of a rhythm guitarist in its ever-present, sometimes distortion drenched thickness while drummer John Pomeroy changes things up in the background. Their sonic palette does not simply consist of lead electric guitar, bass and drums, though. Grand Lake employs the sound of a string quartet in several tracks, acoustic guitar as harmonic backdrop when necessary and glockenspiel in places. These new sounds never take over, and are never too much, they serve the songs well with vocals and clean guitar work always front and center.
Grand Lake's - "Blood Sea Dream"
Most notable is “Our Divorce”, sounding like something taken directly from the Jeff Buckley songbook. The string quartet serves as accompaniment to this mid-tempo waltz with a gently swaying guitar melody that blissfully careens through the chorus, ducking from major to minor with ease. Contrast this with “Spark”, which is a bit more aggressive, which grows to a loud climax that is simultaneously shouted and pounded out on the drums. The contrast is welcomed but we never stray too far from home, even with the almost ambient drone of “Threnody for F.A. Mesmer”, a respite placed just after the middle of the album.
Opening track “It Takes a Horse to Light a House” sounds like the best candidate for a radio-friendly single in an album that is chock full of catchy hooks and tight songwriting. The memorable melody in the verse, set against a spacious arrangement of electronics and delicate guitar work would fare well on any college radio station, but it certainly doesn’t define the album in its entirety. The album revels in its contrasts, but the band manages to keep a singular sound throughout. They have the ability to go from dark musical territory in “Concrete Blonde on Blonde (880 South)” to “Riderless Horse” which is spare and spacious, opening up and showing that they are not afraid to let the vocals stand out almost completely unaccompanied.
Grand Lake’s focus on tight songwriting and musicality with special attention paid to clear arrangements pays off. “Blood Sea Dream” is a solid way to bring a full length debut into the world.
You can preview the album in its entirety at their bandcamp site here.
![Churches - "Save Me"](http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/4054123391-1.jpg "Churches - "Save Me"")
![](http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/1468834138-1.png "Grand Lake - "Leaves Ellipse"")
![](http://bandcamp.com/files/32/69/3269641674-1.jpg "Grand Lake - "Blood Sea Dream"")
