AUDRYE SESSIONS
I’ve had more intimate experiences with Audrye Sessions than most of the other Brilliant artists I post about here (Tera Melos excepted, I suppose). That made AS’s June 30 album release at Bottom Of The Hill was the kind of event that I could really understand. I felt a part of it.
Realistically, that "understanding" was the cause of close observation, not direct involvement. In the last couple years, my band and I have been there, watching over-the-shoulder-like as AS worked up to the release of Braille (the album’s title/aesthetic motif): over a year ago, my band played a string of dates down the coast with AS; months ago, I stopped by the Los Angeles studio twice while the band recorded; two weeks before the release show I found myself at AS bassist Alicia Campbell’s Oakland apartment for drinks, eating hummus and pasta salad while most of the band coordinated their artwork and liner notes.
The release show provided just the sort of hedonism that local scenes are made of: four bands that have been playing together for years donned their nicest ratty shirts and thrift-store leather shoes and converged on Bottom Of The Hill, San Francisco’s stepping-stone for bands on the verge. The line-up kicked off with unannounced “special guests” Street To Nowhere, one of my favorite Bay Area acts who I should post about. As a band STN has entered a sort of public puberty, growing up faster than their friends, signing to a major label, securing top-tier management, booking, and legal representation, and touring all over. It seemed like a pretty major decision for STN to debut three never-before-played songs at their friends’ release show. Dave Smallen, STN’s singer and writer, has been growing up in front of that gathered crowd for nearly five years. Even though it was AS's showcase, Mr. Smallen's new songs were certainly the most magnified thing going on. STN opened with “Chelsea Hotel,” with Mr. Smallen continuing the education of his young fan base on all things Leonard Cohen. The new songs—as un-judge-able as first impressions are—were, if nothing else, totally exciting.
The middle act of AS’s release involved Bay Area friends and collaborators Push To Talk and Poor Bailey. Push To Talk told me they wouldn’t be playing anything I hadn’t seen before, so I dove into some conversation on the back patio that lasted right up until AS took the stage.
I think AS played every song on the Braille, but I wasn’t counting. The songs sounded like professionally-produced versions of the songs I’ve been hearing for two years. The band rocked. Members of Judgment Day and Poor Bailey, as well as Matt Radosevich—Braille’s producer and engineer—joined AS on stage for various keyboard and string flourishes. The show ended and 300 people left with a copy of the elaborately packaged disc (wrapped in a ribbon, individually numbered, the band named raised in white Braille dots on a white background).
That album is full of the kind of music that labels owned by old men love, or at least still know what to do with. This isn’t a criticism because AS have exceptional control of this type of music. The best moments on Braille find AS giving Grey’s Anatomy plenty of options for next season’s squad of soaring, post-Coldplay balladry. Profoundly, Mr. Radosevich (the producer) mentioned “how important a couple great songs” could be for an artist, and it’s easy to see how true that is for AS. For a band that writes purposefully slick-sounding music, the song “Relentless” is just the sort of mind-bendingly addictive-substance of a song that Mr. Radosevich is talking about. “Relentless” is a soaring, amphitheater-ready alt-rock slow jam, a neatly-coiffed, twice-removed cousin of the space between Radiohead's “Creep” and “Fake Plastic Trees.” AS vocalist Ryan Karazija has an undeniable (and Thom Yorke-ish) voice and a knack for taking familiar chords progressions and keeping them interesting and full of surprises. Mr. Karazija's attractive band keeps his compositions interesting if uncontroversial, but again, that fits the modus operandi, which probably involves the strategic elimination and replacement of the band Snow Patrol from Earth’s collective consciousness. For me, the most-cohesive moments (live and on Braille) are the slow tracks, which all sound like enormous, potent, smart, The Fray-destroying Big Singles, or whatever the suits are calling them these days.
Realistically, that "understanding" was the cause of close observation, not direct involvement. In the last couple years, my band and I have been there, watching over-the-shoulder-like as AS worked up to the release of Braille (the album’s title/aesthetic motif): over a year ago, my band played a string of dates down the coast with AS; months ago, I stopped by the Los Angeles studio twice while the band recorded; two weeks before the release show I found myself at AS bassist Alicia Campbell’s Oakland apartment for drinks, eating hummus and pasta salad while most of the band coordinated their artwork and liner notes.
The release show provided just the sort of hedonism that local scenes are made of: four bands that have been playing together for years donned their nicest ratty shirts and thrift-store leather shoes and converged on Bottom Of The Hill, San Francisco’s stepping-stone for bands on the verge. The line-up kicked off with unannounced “special guests” Street To Nowhere, one of my favorite Bay Area acts who I should post about. As a band STN has entered a sort of public puberty, growing up faster than their friends, signing to a major label, securing top-tier management, booking, and legal representation, and touring all over. It seemed like a pretty major decision for STN to debut three never-before-played songs at their friends’ release show. Dave Smallen, STN’s singer and writer, has been growing up in front of that gathered crowd for nearly five years. Even though it was AS's showcase, Mr. Smallen's new songs were certainly the most magnified thing going on. STN opened with “Chelsea Hotel,” with Mr. Smallen continuing the education of his young fan base on all things Leonard Cohen. The new songs—as un-judge-able as first impressions are—were, if nothing else, totally exciting.
The middle act of AS’s release involved Bay Area friends and collaborators Push To Talk and Poor Bailey. Push To Talk told me they wouldn’t be playing anything I hadn’t seen before, so I dove into some conversation on the back patio that lasted right up until AS took the stage.
I think AS played every song on the Braille, but I wasn’t counting. The songs sounded like professionally-produced versions of the songs I’ve been hearing for two years. The band rocked. Members of Judgment Day and Poor Bailey, as well as Matt Radosevich—Braille’s producer and engineer—joined AS on stage for various keyboard and string flourishes. The show ended and 300 people left with a copy of the elaborately packaged disc (wrapped in a ribbon, individually numbered, the band named raised in white Braille dots on a white background).
That album is full of the kind of music that labels owned by old men love, or at least still know what to do with. This isn’t a criticism because AS have exceptional control of this type of music. The best moments on Braille find AS giving Grey’s Anatomy plenty of options for next season’s squad of soaring, post-Coldplay balladry. Profoundly, Mr. Radosevich (the producer) mentioned “how important a couple great songs” could be for an artist, and it’s easy to see how true that is for AS. For a band that writes purposefully slick-sounding music, the song “Relentless” is just the sort of mind-bendingly addictive-substance of a song that Mr. Radosevich is talking about. “Relentless” is a soaring, amphitheater-ready alt-rock slow jam, a neatly-coiffed, twice-removed cousin of the space between Radiohead's “Creep” and “Fake Plastic Trees.” AS vocalist Ryan Karazija has an undeniable (and Thom Yorke-ish) voice and a knack for taking familiar chords progressions and keeping them interesting and full of surprises. Mr. Karazija's attractive band keeps his compositions interesting if uncontroversial, but again, that fits the modus operandi, which probably involves the strategic elimination and replacement of the band Snow Patrol from Earth’s collective consciousness. For me, the most-cohesive moments (live and on Braille) are the slow tracks, which all sound like enormous, potent, smart, The Fray-destroying Big Singles, or whatever the suits are calling them these days.
The low-budget video for an older version of the song "Paper Faces", Braille's upbeat first track.
The track "New Years Day" performed in-studio at LIVE105.
BRILLIANT MP3's
(Click to download)
“Relentless,” from the album Braille by Audrye Sessions.
“She Had To Leave,” from the album Braille by Audrye Sessions.
“(Early In The Morning),” from the album Braille by Audrye Sessions.
AUDRYE SESSIONS' WEBSITE.
AUDRYE SESSIONS on MYSPACE.
AUDRYE SESSIONS on LAST.FM.
AUDRYE SESSIONS on YOUTUBE.
AUDRYE SESSIONS on HYPEMACHINE.
AUDRYE SESSIONS on ELBO.WS.
I completely agree, the best ever show and album! I've been a fan of AS 's for awhile now, going to their shows religiously I must admit. I had high hopes for this but the band exceeded them.
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