21+
13 NW Sixth Avenue
Portland, OR
About A Place to Bury Strangers:
"A New York–based noise rock band composed of Oliver Ackermann(guitar/vocals), Dion Lunadon (bass guitar) and Robi Gonzalez (drums). The band plays a heavy, atmospheric wall of sound-influenced blend of psychedelic rock, shoegaze and space rock. The band is commonly known by the initials APTBS."
"A Place to Bury Strangers was formed in 2002 by David Goffan and Tim Gregorio. Current frontman and guitarist Oliver Ackermann had moved to New York City, following the disbanding of his previous group, Skywave, to join the group and become the primary songwriter after the departure of Goffan. They played their first show at Luxx in Brooklyn in 2003. Jay Space and Jono Mofo, both from the New York City-based band MOFO, joined the band when Tim Gregorio left. In 2006, APTBS handmade three different untitled EPs with different color schemes; these later become known as the Red, Blue and Green EPs.
In 2006, the band gained some acclaim following its Webster Hall performance with The Brian Jonestown Massacre. The band returned to Webster Hall in 2007 to play with one of their major influences, The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Throughout these formative years, the band's live shows became increasingly chaotic which earned them the title of New York City's "loudest band" from various indie reviewers and bloggers,[1][2] as well as "the most ear-shatteringly loud garage/shoegaze band you'll ever hear" by The Washington Post.[3] The New York Times applauded their revival of "the ominous, feedback-drenched drones of the 1980s".
"Daydream Machine began in vocalist/guitarist Jason Adams’ basement, a well-used room that seems like it’s held together by band posters, flyers and stickers—a record of the history of the bands that share the space, the people they’ve toured with and their influences. This record stretches more than a decade as do the musical careers of most of the members. Daydream Machine is made up of the front people of other notable bands. Founding members include singer/guitarist Jason Adams (The Upsidedown); singer/guitarist Matthew Strange (Hawkeye); guitarist/noise Jonathan Allen (Music for Headphones) Bassist Josh Kalberg and singer/flautist Charlotte Engler together form the folk-gaze duo The Whole Wide World. Drummer Jason (Plucky) Anchondo (The Warlocks).
The dream machine for which the band is named is made from a cylinder with cut sides that throw out photons as the machine oscillates. The experience of looking, eyes closed, into the light can be quite intense but all you need to do to escape it is to open your eyes. Such is the music of Daydream Machine, which takes you, our gentle listener, to a place where magic, sedation and elation exist in waveform. The music combines light with dark through its tri-vocal harmonies. Jason Adams’ sardonic vocals play off of Matthew Strange’s hopeful tenor with Charlotte Engler lacing her soprano throughout the songs. The vocals don’t fuse, they work around each other sometimes coming together and sometimes floating apart. None of the vocalists is specifically “lead.” Each voice plays an integral part to the music—at times witty and at other times heartbreaking.
Daydream Machine combines the lush sounds of shoegaze and neo-psychedelia with the jutting angles and dance beats of post-punk. Layers of guitars, vocals, flute and keyboards shimmer above the driving drumbeat. The results, like magic in fairy tales and Fantasia are unpredictable. Daydream Machine owes a lot to a lot of people. “Dawn” is a cover of a Frankie Valli song dragged through the Jesus and Marychain, the Ronettes and the Beach Boys. The guitars don’t follow the usual rhythm lead strategy. Strange’s winding leads overlay the rhythm and textured sounds created by Jason Adams and Jonathan Allen with his plethora of guitar pedals. In this, notes of Spacemen 3 scratch against the fuzzy backdrop of Galaxie 500.
In May 2013, Daydream Machine signed to Picture in My Ear Records, and is releasing their debut
album, Twin Idols, in early 2014 (TBR 3/11/14). Twin Idols includes contributions from Peter Holmstrom (the Dandy Warhols) and Collin Hegna (Brian Jonestown Massacre, Federale) and was partially recorded at Hegna’s Revolver Studios. Some of their early demo basement tracks can be found on samplers “The Psychic Underground – Vol. 5”, and “The Active Listener – Record Store Day 2013” and they have received airplay on podcasts such as Anton Newcombe’s Dead TV, “Sideways Through Sound” out of Sydney, Australia, KZME in Portland, and “When the Sun Hits” on Strangeways Radio. Daydream Machine started with momentum and does not plan on letting up any time soon."
Covering Your Assets: Negotiations
Learn how to effectively negotiate with anyone: clients, collaborators, bosses, and adversaries. You’ll learn how to ask for what you want, how to figure out what the other side wants, how to take control in a negotiation, and how to say “no.” Designed especially for people who are intimidated by negotiation and conflict, this class is useful no matter what your current negotiation comfort level is. You'll walk away with easy to use tools and the confidence to negotiate your rate, handle a demanding client, and get what you need in any creative situation.
Cost: $25
More info: http://www.racc.org/resources/31715-racc-workshop-covering-your-assets-negotiations
Grant Writing For Success
Are you planning on tapping into the world of grants? It starts with a plan - grant writing for success may be a great first step. This hands-on session will expose artists to the strategy, planning and goal setting steps of preparing to write a successful grant proposal.
Presenter: Kimberly Howard
Cost: $30
More Info: http://racc.org/resources/31515-racc-workshop-it-starts-plan-grant-writing-success
With an extensive and amazing track record of unique and imaginative performances featuring his curious instrument and copious amounts of originality, Mike Silverman, a/k/a That1Guy, has set himself apart as a true one-of-a-kind talent that rivals any other artist currently in the entertainment industry. Averaging 150-200 shows a year all over North America and Canada, he has been a consistent favorite at such festivals as: Wakarusa, Electric Forest, Big Day Out, All Good Music Festival, Bella, High Sierra Music Festival, Summer Meltdown, Montreal Jazz Festival, and many more. Mike is also renowned for his legendary collaborations with Buckethead, performing as The Frankenstein Brothers, which has helped to cement his standing as a creative visionary.
Along with his pioneering main instrument, The Magic Pipe, a monstrosity of metal, strings, and electronics, That1Guy facilitates the dynamic live creation of music and magic in ways only he can conjure. Expect also to see magic seamlessly integrated into the already innovative performance. With the addition of magic in his live shows, he has legitimately achieved an all-inclusive audio/visual performance unlike anything experienced before. “So much of my music has miraculous qualities to it because it’s hard to tell what’s going on. There are lots of sleights of hand and sonic misdirection. It feels like I was meant to do magic”.
Such is the force of magic within his world, That1Guy will again be offering limited access to unlimitless wonderment by reuniting the Magic Mustache Club. A select number of fans in each city will be offered the opportunity to purchase tickets for a hour long magic show that will commences privately before doors open at most venues. Inclusive of the membership is a limited edition tour poster, VIP laminate, meet and greet, photo and autograph opportunities, and the chance to watch a masterful display of magical sleight of hand genius.
For ticketing information and all other information on That1Guy please visit his website: www.that1guy.com.
presented by Fellowship for Performing Arts
From the producers of the stage hit, THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS comes the highly anticipated theatrical adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ THE GREAT DIVORCE. In this dantesque celestial journey, lost souls take a bus ride to Heaven. Will they choose to stay? Or will they return to a life divorced from it?
Performance includes after-show talkback about the play with Max McLean.
“World class theatre!” -- World Magazine
“A rare and welcomed treat!” -- Broadway World
“If wit and wisdom, style and scholarship are requisites to passage through the pearly gates, Mr. Lewis will be among the angels." --The New Yorker
Run Time: 90 minutes, no intermission.
price: $37.25 - $104.35
more info and tickets: http://greatdivorceonstage.com/portland
"Set in Damon Runyon's mythical New York City, this oddball romantic comedy - considered by many to be the perfect musical comedy - soars with the spirit of Broadway as it introduces us to a cast of vivid characters who have become legends in the canon: Sarah Brown, the upright but uptight "mission doll," out to reform the evildoers of Times Square; Sky Masterson, the slick, high-rolling gambler who woos her on a bet and ends up falling in love; Adelaide, the chronically ill nightclub performer whose condition is brought on by the fact that she's been engaged to the same man for 14 years; and Nathan Detroit, her devoted fiance, desperate as always to find a spot for his infamous floating craps game."- Portland Broadway
Tickets: $36 and up
More info: http://portland.broadway.com/shows/guys-and-dolls-baa/
Covering Your Assets: A Contract Workshop
Want to sell a painting, publish a book, land a commission, or collaborate on a project? You’re going to need a contract. This class will teach you the basics of how to create a contract, what different clauses in creative contracts mean, and what to look out for in contracts you’re asked to sign. Don’t get caught feeling like you have to sign the contract you’re given. Know what you’re agreeing to and when to ask for help.
Cost: $25
More info: http://www.racc.org/resources/31015-racc-workshop-covering-your-assets-contracts
It's a night of great hip hop, XRAY and Mike Thrasher Presents bring PRhyme, the new project from Royce da 5'9" and DJ Premier.
Tickets online at cascadetickets.com
THREESOME
In the Ellyn Bye Studio
Previews are Jan. 24-29 | Opening night Jan. 30
By Yussef El Guindi
Directed by Chris Coleman
A World Premiere! Leila and Rashid, Egyptian Americans with ties to Cairo, attempt to solve their relationship issues by inviting a relative stranger into their bedroom to engage in a threesome. What begins as a hilariously awkward evening soon becomes an experience fraught with secrets, raising issues of sexism, possession and independence. Threesome is a proud co-production with A Contemporary Theater (ACT) in Seattle, Washington.
General Performance Times:
Evenings: Tuesday - Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m.
Matinees: Saturday and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Thursdays at noon
View the season calendar.
Run Time:
Approximately 2 hours, including one intermission. A more accurate run time will be posted by opening night.
Note:
Threesome is recommended for ages 17+; contains male and female nudity, strong language and mature content. Children under 6 are not permitted at any PCS production. There is no late seating or re-entry in the Ellyn Bye Studio.
Ruthless! The Musical
A Comedy About Young Girl Who Would Kill to Land Leading Role
February 19 – March 8, 2015
Thursday – Saturday 7:30 p.m., Sundays 2 p.m. | $20-$35
Portland’5 Brunish Theater at Antoinette Hatfield Hall
1111 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97205 (between SW Broadway & SW Main St)
Tickets: stumptownstages.org
Group tickets at 503-381-8686
Single tickets on sale NOW through the Portland'5 Centers for the Arts.
Music by Marvin Laird
Book and Lyrics by Joel Paley
"Hilarious! Witty! Cynical and evil! "What would you do to get what you want?" Eight-year-old Tina Denmark knows she was born to play Pippi Longstocking and she will do anything to win the part in her school musical, including murdering the leading lady! This aggressively outrageous musical hit garnered rave reviews during its long Off-Broadway run, which opened with Britney Spears in the leading role."
Sat MARCH 7, 2015
Back Fence PDX: MAINSTAGE | Something I Cannot Unsee Or Undo
DOORS 6:30PM | SHOW 8:00PM | 21+
ALBERTA ROSE THEATRE
3000 NE Alberta St
Telling stories on the theme Something I Cannot Unsee or Undo: returning crowd favorite the Emmy Nominated Director of Six Days to Air: the Making of South Park, ARTHUR BRADFORD (PDX), Primetime Emmy Winner for Outstanding Writing — for Key & Peele, COLTON DUNN (LA), Tarot Card Reader and Spiritual Astrologer, MISS RENEE (PDX), Husband/Wife telling a story in tandem: Writer/Performer of 8 solo shows that traveled fromom the HBO/US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen to the 2014 Summer Nights Festival in Perth. BRIAN FINKELSTEIN+ Writer/Performer for Modern Family/30 Rock/The Office , JEAN VILLEPIQUE and and Oregonian Reporter + Documentary Filmmaker, CASEY PARKS (PDX).
$15—$22.50 ADVANCE | $18 DAY OF SHOW
For $22.50 there a limited number of VIP tickets available, reserved until 7:50pm, in the front rows of the main floor.
*Storytellers subject to change without notice. Stories may contain explicit language and/or subject matter.
Portland, OR: Montavilla Food Co-op Screening
March 7 @ 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm
"Join us for a neighborhood screening of Food For Change, a new feature length documentary (85 min.) that examines the history of the cooperative movement and profiles several food co-ops that are enabling their communities to build food systems that are local, seasonal, and transparent. This is truly a food revolution! Be a part of the movement by attending the documentary, and joining the co-op while there. Or you can join today by visiting our website: www.montavilla.coop and clicking on “Join Our Co-op!”. It’s that easy.
Bring your friends to this free screening on Saturday, March 7, 2015 from 4pm-6:30pm at the Academy Theater, 7818 SE Stark Street, Portland, OR. This is a great opportunity to learn, get inspired, and meet other neighbors who are passionate about reclaiming control over our food system through eating better, transitioning away from processed foods, and growing more food locally.
Join the co-op community and/or become a sponsor of our co-op and this event. Sponsorships can include monetary, food, or another pre arrangement.
Montavilla Food Co-op is a member-owned cooperative business dedicated to opening a democratically run grocery store in the Montavilla neighborhood. We’re working hard towards connecting the East Portland community to healthy food, supporting local farmers and producers, building community wealth and advancing sustainability initiatives all within a centrally located, cooperative grocery. We are in the organizational, fundraising and member-equity development phase of building our co-op. We hope to open our door in the next 12-24 months."
Expo! 1,000 booths of vintage coming up March 7 & 8! This will be the 99th Show at Expo and their 35th year of doing this.
THE FIRKIN MUSIC FEST 2015 offers up a diverse selection of FREE SHOWS for three consecutive nights featuring some of Portland's most stellar up and coming bands including Talkative, Fog Father, Nature Thief, LiquidLight, The Hill Dogs, SamDensmoreDamSensmore, Pretty Gritty, Tango Alpha Tango, Tribe Mars, & Walking Stalking Robots. Beer will flow from genuine Firkin barrels while supplies last!
All shows are 21+
Thursday March 5, 6pm - 10pm
Talkative + Fog Father + Nature Thief + LiquidLight
Friday March 6, 7pm - 10pm
The Hill Dogs + Sam DensmoreDamSensmore + Pretty Gritty
Saturday March 7, 7pm - 10pm
Tango Alpha Tango + Tribe Mars + Walking Stalking Robots
LINKS:
Thursday March 5
Talkative - talkative.bandcamp.com/
Fog Father - fogfather.bandcamp.com/
Nature Thief - naturethief.bandcamp.com/
LiquidLight - liquidlight.bandcamp.com/
Friday March 6
The Hill Dogs - http://hilldogs.bandcamp.com/
SamDensmoreDamSensmore - www.samdensmore.com
Pretty Gritty - www.prettygrittymusic.com
Saturday March 7
Tango Alpha Tango - www.tangoalphatango.com/
Tribe Mars - https://www.facebook.com/tribemarsportland
Walking Stalking Robots - www.walkingstalkingrobots.com
Doors 8PM | Show 9PM
3939 N. Mississippi, Portland OR 97227
21+
About Psychomagic:
"PDX garage pop band signed with Lolipop Records."
About Bed:
"In late 2013, Alex and Sierra Haager quit their jobs, escaped their lives in California and headed north to start Breakup Records. Although they spend most of their time working with some of their favorite bands, they still found time to create a new music project for themselves.
bed. spent the last year releasing a steady stream of singles and videos, slowly creeping into brains, near and far. This year marks their first foray into the festival scene, with an appearance at Treefort Music Fest scheduled for March 27th.
With their fourth single - Fremm - the band returns to the sonic land of their forefathers. Joined now by Andrew Meininger (ex-Wampire) on drums and recorded in Portland with Jared Brannan, this pop-heavy track trudges along at a gentle 86 BPM. The accompanying video was created by Jess N Pierson."
Doors: 7:00 pm / Show: 8:00 pm
$20.00 ADV/DOS
21 + | minors with parent or legal guardian
About Stars:"Stars have announced their fall North American tour in support of their sixth full-length album, The North, which will be released on September 4th via ATO Records. Fans who purchase tickets for any of the US headlining shows will receive a digital copy of the album on release day and an instant download of "The Theory of Relativity". Tickets go on sale Friday July 13 and can be purchased on www.youarestars.com.
The North was recorded in Montreal's historic RCA Victor Studios and was produced by Stars, Graham Lessard and Marcus Paquin (Arcade Fire). Stars shared the first album track "The Theory of Relativity" last month, and is still available as a free download via www.youarestars.com and can be streamed at http://soundcloud.com/youarestars/the-theory-of-relativity."
About Leisure Cruise:
"Leisure Cruise is Dave Hodge and Leah Siegel. Hodge—the Canada-born musician (Broken Social Scene & Bran Van 3000..who has also performed with Macy Gray, Feist, Brazilian Girls, and Basement Jaxx), arranger (Janet Jackson/Neptunes, Carly Simon), and composer; and singer and songwriter Leah Siegel (a fixture on the New York scene known for her solo project Firehorse and for performing with The Citizens Band) were brought together to do a tv spot in '09. Four years later, they ran into each other on the street. Dave was working on a record, his own, "finally" he said, after years of making them for other people. He invited Leah to participate. His vision was to have his friends each co-write a track and end up with a beautiful monster of a record. Leah was happy to take part. It was a wonder that they even recognized each other at the time.
It took all of one studio day in April 2013 for them to know they should just keep writing. Two months later they had written half an album. Siegel says, "Dave was really modest regarding the 'friends' he had slated to write and perform on the record. They were all busy on tour doing the major festival circuit. I was embarrassingly available at the time. We worked so well together in the studio, it just made sense to keep going back every day, keep writing, even though we had no real reason to, no deadline." Hodge realized that his plans for his record were changing and over the course of the next several months, the two created their band Leisure Cruise—and their self titled debut album of darkly hypnotic, danceable synth-based anthems.
The band name: During the early days of their writing together, astronomers had discovered three new planets in the Lyra constellation that appeared capable of supporting human life. What if we had to leave earth and colonize a new planet? They imagined "a final leisure cruise for the human race,"—and the fledgling musical project as a sort of soundtrack for it. "We're sort of living our lives in a state of leisure," Dave says, "with regards to using up resources and knowing what's happening and not really doing much about it." Not that Leisure Cruise is all doom and gloom (or that it could be, with a name like that). "It's not this apocalyptic thing," says Siegel, of the concept. "We'd elect to make a purposeful and exciting exit. Try something new. In my head, I see it as a natural progression in the hopefully delayed inevitable."
So what would play on this spaceship's sound system? Something sounding like the future as imagined in the past—yet rooted in the now. Imagine the music of a John Hughes film if it had been written by Bowie, remixed by Johnny Jewel, and fronted by a female Prince, and you'll start to get the idea. Rounding out the sound is an impressive roster of guests (Metric's Jimmy Shaw, Blondie's Tommy Kessler, Liam O'Neil from the Stills, Justin Peroff of Broken Social Scene, and Drake's Adrian Eccleston). It's at once dark and light, serious and fun, melancholic and euphoric. Ask Hodge and Siegel about their sound and process, and the answer sounds a lot like what happiness researchers call flow. "We weren't trying to emulate anything," Hodge says. "We were just making music."
In fact, Hodge and Siegel see Leisure Cruise as the product of two musical soul mates meeting at just the right moment in their careers to truly savor it. "I've worked with some great singers, but it's really very effortless with Leah," says Hodge. Chimes in Siegel: "This is just the truest collaboration I've ever experienced—it's a rare pairing."
DOORS: 8:00 PM / SHOW: 9:00 PM
21+About Viet Cong:
"It takes less than sixty seconds of album opener "Newspaper Spoons" for you to decide that Viet Cong is a winter record. The album has barely begun, and the guitar doesn't snarl until the end of that opening minute, but it still presents a palpable iciness in just a few short moments. It's bitter. It stings. But once you're in it, and you're bracing yourself and charging ahead, "Newspaper Spoons" moves from a punishing, almost militarized drumbeat to a melody that's still menacing but also delicate, almost celestial.
That instinct for humanizing a stone-cold song is Viet Cong's greatest gift and sharpest weapon. It's harsh, but exhilarating. Themes of deconstruction and disintegration, of hardening and crumbling seem to come from every direction. But time and again, they are rescued by something—a little bit of humor, a cathartic moment, even a basic human goof. In fact, as the members of Viet Cong worked through the songs that make up this record, they erred on the side of keeping those moments that save Viet Cong from being overly mechanized. "There have to be strange little goofups and stuff that's sometimes intentional, sometimes not," bassist and lead singer Matt Flegel explains. "I have a bleak sense of humor, too, so some lyrics might seem funny to me even though anyone else might think they're desperately hopeless."
Recorded in a barn-turned-studio in rural Ontario, the seven songs that make up Viet Cong were born largely on the road, when the four-piece embarked on a 50-date tour that stretched virtually every limit imaginable. Close quarters hastened their exhaustion but also honed them as a group. With all four members traveling in one car, the mood conflated with the soundtrack, the soundtrack with the cities around them, and so forth. There was repetition, but it was all different. This combined with the grey, chilly emptiness of Calgary rendered a record with a viscerally rugged vibe, one that Flegel even describes as "shit earth."
As Viet Cong pushes forward, the six-minute "March of Progress" is when it begins to really take flight. A lengthy, almost industrial march chugs along for a full three minutes before the floor gives out underneath it and gives way to a spare little riff and the album's first real melody. "That's the one where I thought 'that's what I want us to be doing. Finally,'" explains Flegel. "That was the sound that I had heard in my mind before we even got started." Later still, that negative space gives way to a richer melody, and it's here that Flegel sings "we build the buildings and they're built to break," a declaration that is in many ways this album's thesis.
The repetition throughout Viet Cong hypnotizes but it also softens, leaving a space that is deceptively personal. "Continental Shelf" orbits a thousand-watt hook with a thick crackle and a battering-ram drum line. It's so arresting that you barely notice it doesn't have a chorus, and then in comes a line like "if we're lucky we'll get old and die" and you can't believe Leonard Cohen (or Trent Reznor, or Nick Cave, or Sinatra) didn't get to it first. "Silhouettes" is a tripwire of a song, opening with an almost Joy Division-esque exposition and moving at breakneck speed - frantic and pitch-black at a thousand miles an hour - until before you know it they are howling. Actually howling, and maybe you are too.
You can designate records as seasonal, and you can feel Viet Cong's bleakness and declare it wintry. But the only way you get a frost is when there's something warmer to freeze up. So yes, Viet Cong is a winter album, but only until it is a spring record, then a summer scorcher, then an autumn burner, then it ices over again. They build these buildings, and they're built to break."
SOLD OUT
$18.00 - $20.00
DOORS: 8:00 PMTHIS EVENT IS ALL AGES
About Caribou:
"About a year ago, Caribou mastermind Dan Snaith couldn't swim. On a good day, he might get a decent doggy paddle going but, really, he could barely stay afloat. All that changed when his wife got him swimming lessons for Christmas. "Then I became completely obsessed with it and now I swim constantly," he says. "The only times I really left the house in the past year were either to go out to a club late at night or, in the middle of making music during the day, I'd go to swim every day. It was important to get some distance, and ideas would percolate around in my head as I was swimming away. So it seemed like a theme that was appropriate."
With its absorption of club culture sounds weaved within subtle pop frameworks, Swim is Caribou's masterpiece-the record he's wanted to bring to fruition for as long as he's been making music. A Canadian from small-town Ontario now based in England, Snaith has been a leading figure in electronic music over the past decade. A mathematics scholar and an ingenious multi-instrumentalist/composer, he surprised critics and fans with 2007's Andorra, a brilliant, electro-tinged pop breakthrough with a timeless grace that made most year-end "Best of" lists and won Canada's prestigious Polaris Music Prize. After the startling infectiousness of Andorra, Swim is a more complex, multi-layered affair-ripe with fascinating rhythms, instrumentation, and vocals (including those of Born Ruffians' Luke Lalonde, who appears on "Jamelia")-that becomes more alluring with each listen. And it's got Caribou floating."
About Koreless:
"Glasgow-based Koreless is part of the new generation of young producers rising fast through the net-fed bass community. Despite his age his music exudes maturity, nesting in the ever-expanding dubstep lexicon somewhere between softened 2-step and soulful electronica."
XRAY.FM is proud to sponsor the showing of the music documentary Salad Days, showing February 27th thru March 3rd at King Street Theater in Vancouver.
More information at Kiggin's Street Theatre's website
It's Salad Days: 1980-1990: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC.
These days, Lacy is focusing his gaze further outward, exploring what he calls "the infinite and the infinitesimal," while also keeping lyrical watch on the crossroads where our digital future and our pastoral past bump up against each other.
Few are the artists who are able to bring such thorny and thoughtful issues to bear in their music, but that is just one of the many reasons that Eons, the new album from Mimicking Birds, is so very special.
How this comes out through Lacy is in toothsome lyrics that are filled to bursting with imagery, philosophical questions, and deep personal concerns. That he finds ways to tie these concepts together without losing his way or our fascination with them is a testament to his songwriting prowess.
The rest of the band, Aaron Hanson and Adam Trachsel, works to remain connected to the Birds' of yore, emphasizing fingerpicked acoustic guitars, the sturdy tones of a stand-up bass, and restrained drums, while pushing into the future as well.
Too, Eons feels as expansive as its title thanks to the help of producer Jeremy Sherrer (The Gossip, 1776). He helped weave some gorgeous electronic textures into the songs – listen for the skittering programmed beat that helps carry "Owl Hoots" forward, or the swells of keyboards that pull closing track "Movin' On" towards an '80s pop sunrise.
It's quite a lot for one album or one band to carry on its shoulders, but Mimicking Birds and Eons prove capable of bearing the weight of this expansive view of the physical world and the world that we can only reach through an amazing piece of music. Eons has 10 such tracks that will transport, delight, and surprise you, even through multiple listens".
"Eons is out May 13th, 2014 on Glacial Pace".