Link
t has been four long years since we last heard from The Kingsbury Manx. But if the strength of this new batch of songs is any indication, it has been well worth the wait.
At the end of 2005, things were good in Manxville. The four North Carolina lads made the jump to a larger label (Yep Roc) for the release The Fast Rise and Fall of The South. The record was produced by Wilco keyboard player, Mike Jorgensen. The press was good, and a short stint on the road with Wilco and a full US tour with then label mates The Standard followed. The dust settled, and things started to change. Marriages happened. Houses were bought. Children were born, and for the first time, there was a second generation of lil Manxers crawling around. Priorities shiftedor did they? A funny thing happened. Main songwriters Bill Taylor and Ryan Richardson wrote more prolifically then ever. The Manx muse kept busy. Before long, the band re-convened and began playing again, working out the new material. But this time, rather than book a straight week in an out of town studio, the boys re-visited the site of their original genesis and started booking the odd day or weekend at Duck Kee.
The return to Duck Kee in late 2006 felt like home all over again. Over the course of the next year and a half, 14 brand new songs were recorded. These songs are unmistakably the same band that started recording at Duck Kee back in 1999, but Ascenseur Ouvert! is no mere re-treading of old territory. Their sound has expanded, shifted, and moved into regions hitherto unexpected. From the upbeat Brill-pop of Over the Oeuvre to the spidery guitar hooks that punctuate the shuffle of Well, Whatever to the somber chamber-creepiness of Minos Maze, this is an al-bum of pleasant surprises. Fans of the vocal harmonies will be smiling ear to ear upon hear-ing the six part vocal rondo in the coda of Indian Isle.
Ascenseur Ouvert! is broken French for Elevator Open! and is meant as a command. The Manx are too slow moving a band for the stairway, so they have bypassed it for the elevator. Up! To where? To inspiration, to newness. To take a hold of ones own destiny and realize that victory is not in sound scans or opening up for Coldplay but in a babys first step or the pleasure of fixing a leaking sink in your own house. The relief of getting off work at midnight and running into an old friend. Of still being tuned in to the celestial radio station and giving its harmonies form. The sky wont yield / inches for the field sings Taylor in the beautifully literary Well, what-ever. And its okay. The tapestry of life is rich, and the Kingsbury Manx knowing their place in it, have new resolve never to forget what was always important in the first place.
At the end of 2005, things were good in Manxville. The four North Carolina lads made the jump to a larger label (Yep Roc) for the release The Fast Rise and Fall of The South. The record was produced by Wilco keyboard player, Mike Jorgensen. The press was good, and a short stint on the road with Wilco and a full US tour with then label mates The Standard followed. The dust settled, and things started to change. Marriages happened. Houses were bought. Children were born, and for the first time, there was a second generation of lil Manxers crawling around. Priorities shiftedor did they? A funny thing happened. Main songwriters Bill Taylor and Ryan Richardson wrote more prolifically then ever. The Manx muse kept busy. Before long, the band re-convened and began playing again, working out the new material. But this time, rather than book a straight week in an out of town studio, the boys re-visited the site of their original genesis and started booking the odd day or weekend at Duck Kee.
The return to Duck Kee in late 2006 felt like home all over again. Over the course of the next year and a half, 14 brand new songs were recorded. These songs are unmistakably the same band that started recording at Duck Kee back in 1999, but Ascenseur Ouvert! is no mere re-treading of old territory. Their sound has expanded, shifted, and moved into regions hitherto unexpected. From the upbeat Brill-pop of Over the Oeuvre to the spidery guitar hooks that punctuate the shuffle of Well, Whatever to the somber chamber-creepiness of Minos Maze, this is an al-bum of pleasant surprises. Fans of the vocal harmonies will be smiling ear to ear upon hear-ing the six part vocal rondo in the coda of Indian Isle.
Ascenseur Ouvert! is broken French for Elevator Open! and is meant as a command. The Manx are too slow moving a band for the stairway, so they have bypassed it for the elevator. Up! To where? To inspiration, to newness. To take a hold of ones own destiny and realize that victory is not in sound scans or opening up for Coldplay but in a babys first step or the pleasure of fixing a leaking sink in your own house. The relief of getting off work at midnight and running into an old friend. Of still being tuned in to the celestial radio station and giving its harmonies form. The sky wont yield / inches for the field sings Taylor in the beautifully literary Well, what-ever. And its okay. The tapestry of life is rich, and the Kingsbury Manx knowing their place in it, have new resolve never to forget what was always important in the first place.
No hay comentarios.:
Publicar un comentario