The Painted Light LP from Paper Cameras has been a long time coming and well worth the wait. The lo-fi polyphonic soundscape is full of ethereal harmonies reminiscent of the 90’s garage influenced rock scene that veteran Portland musician Michael Carothers helped form. The history of Paper Cameras began in 2005, when Carothers (Spectator Pump/All The Dead Horses/The Glib) conceived the project and began writing songs. Three years later, the E.P. Lost Weekend was born. The E.P. was recorded with longtime friend, Nashville’s Jerry Wayne Campbell (Spider Virus/Millionaire Magicians) and producer Sean Flora (Black Keys/Shins/Stephen Malkmus).
The following years Carothers took a brief hiatus from songwriting to open the successful Japanese restaurant, Miho Izakaya and spent the next half decade keeping sake flowing and quietly writing songs in his few spare hours. In 2014, with a renewed musical focus he sold his stake in Miho Izakaya and bought a Tascam 8 track cassette recorder and began new material with longtime friend, Portland musician Nathan Junior(Dandy Warhols, The Early Stuff, M. Ward, Duover, Sea Wolf) and artist and taxidermist Little Debbie Bartling sharing time behind the mic with Nathan Junior. The result was The Easy Wolves Sessions, a lo-fi mix of bubblegum psych pop. Later, in 2016 Nathan Junior and Carothers recorded the E.P. Mars Was Yesterday with producer Adam Selzer (Decemberists/Peter Buck/M. Ward/ Fleet Foxes) at Type Foundry Studios where Carothers’ vision began to take on an identity reflective of the kind of alchemy that comes from friendships and like minded musicians, highlighting the strength and creativity of each member.
Carothers, a native Tennessean, had known Tripp Lamkins (The Grifters/Dragoon) since the early days of famed the Memphis band The Grifters. Upon hearing about the Paper Cameras project, Tripp made his way to Portland, OR to record at Jackpot Studio with Tape Op founder Larry Crane (Elliott Smith/Sleater Kinney/ Go-Betweens/Thermals). They began tracking with no band rehearsal and recorded the record in just only two days. With rhythmic complexity and blended harmonies, the outcome is reminiscent of a lower-fi New Pornographers, Wedding Present, with hints of later Royal Trux. Larry Crane’s honest straight-ahead production style anchors the songs and would easily be in step with fans of Summer Cannibals.
This collaboration of veteran musicians came together more smoothly than they ever could have imagined. After the songs were instrumentally framed, Carothers brought painter Michelle Anne Muldrow to sing with Nathan Junior. The result became the EP Painted Light, due out in the fall of 2018 on No Night Travel. Painted Light floats within sonic range between 90’s garage influenced rock and inventive, harmony-laden 80’s power pop.
Look out for the Painted Light EP out March 8th on No Night Travel Records.
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Elva is the new project of Allo Darlin’s Elizabeth Morris and Ola Innset, of the Norwegian bands Making Marks and Sunturns.
Winter Sun was recorded in the autumn of 2018 in an old school house in the Swedish forest, during moose hunting season. Meaning ”The River” in Norwegian, Elva take their inspiration from the natural world, the beauty of the Scandinavian summer and the harshness of the winter. Several of the songs on the album are tellingly inspired by the birth of Elizabeth and Ola’s daughter.
Some might feel the album is sonically most similar to the Allo Darlin’ album Europe, thanks in part to the lush string arrangements courtesy of long-time Allo Darlin’ collaborator Dan Mayfield on violin and cellist Ofelia Østrem Ossum. Michael Collins, who played drums in Allo Darlin’, recorded and produced the album, building on work he has done in recent years with artists like Metronomy and Girl Ray. Diego Ivars on bass and Jørgen Nordby on drums round out the band.
The sonic palate of the record is detailed and delicate, with a mix of acoustic and distorted guitars, vintage keyboards, strings and intricate vocal harmonies. Lyrically and melodically, the album showcases the depth of both Morris’s and Innset’s songwriting. At times recalling the gentleness and screech of American indie bands like Yo La Tengo, at other times the country-tinged heartbreak of Linda Ronstadt or Laura Veirs, Winter Sun is something of its own: a rich combination of polar opposites. Summer and winter, Australia and Norway.
Elizabeth says: ”I really wanted to make an album that had a nice mix of really quiet and gentle songs, together with the louder feedbacky stuff. It was great to be able to share songwriting duties with Ola, as finding time to write is trickier these days with a baby in tow, so it really took the pressure off to write all the songs myself. It also gives the album another dimension, and I have always loved bands with two songwriters, like The Go-Betweens. Hopefully we bring out the best in each other’s writing. But having less pressure on myself to write all the songs meant that the songs I could contribute felt worthy enough of having a place on the record.”
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Kiwi, chamber folk duo Eyreton Hall share a whimsical new track 'Weekend' off their upcoming album Spaces, which is due out May 24 on Marigold Music.
Eyreton Hall will be celebrating the release of 'Weekend' with an intimate live show at 13th Floor on Sunday 3 March, with special support from Sophie Mashlan.
Long time partners in creativity and in life; musicians Andrew Keegan and Toni Randle make up the heart of folk/chamber pop outfit, Eyreton Hall. Blending wide influences ranging from European jazz to classical to contemporary singer-songwriters, Eyreton Hall bring it all under the warm umbrella of Folk, telling stories of upheaval and coping, love and loss. Shining through it all is the voice of Toni Randle; a talent that urges you to feel the power and emotion in every note, and like the best of voices, draws you in completely to the stories being woven in song. Couple with Andrew Keegan’s intuitive, steady drumming feel, they are a musical pair unmatched.
Stepping forward to the present, Eyreton Hall have crafted a new and stunning album about family, hope, loss and grief, Spaces.
Self-written and co-produced with Ben King (Goldenhorse, Grand Rapids), Spaces is an authentic songbook from Randle and Keegan - written in the depths of coping with loss and grief, recovery, and finding hope and new beginnings. The ten-track story is the hearty follow up to their debut album Featherstitch, which prompted love from niche folk blogs and journalists around the globe. Spaces was mixed by Simon Gooding (The Map Room) and mastered by Howard Rogers (Bring It On Studios).
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