Inland Ocean - s/t

Inland Ocean is a new folk band featuring singer/songwriter Chris Tait.  He has just released an album of six tracks which look like they are split into two different sides.  Does this mean this album is on vinyl?  We’ll have to see. The soft strumming and distant echoing oohs really create a gentle set of songs.  Additional vocals are by Inga Schunn.  Check out “Summer Blood” which has cymbals mimicking tides and Tait recalls M. Ward or Bonnie “Prince” Billy.

Catch Inland Ocean on 6/1 @ The Gene Pool with Celtic Panda, Romesco, JV Thrusting Squad, Captain Captain, and Imaginary Sons. 

RIYL:The Low Branches, Jonathan Vassar

photo by Inga Schunn

Hypercolor - Magda (preview)

Hypercolor has released a four-song preview EP.  Led by Alexandra Spalding (Austin Thomas, The Razorektors) on 12-string guitar, banjo, and vocals, the band plays an assortment of experimental folk, lush pop moments, and garage rock.  Spalding’s vocals are reminiscent of The Cowboy Junkies or chilled-out Joan Jett.  The band also features Adrian Olsen (Montrose Recording, Tarrant), Keith Paul (bass, Guise, Dumb Waiter, Dirty Banners), Hugo Haggie and Cre Moore (drums, Lightfields, Dirty Banners). 

Check out “Told You Once” for Southern Culture on the Skids-style attitude, distorted, sultry female vocals, and dissonant guitars.  “Sparrow” finishes off the album on a sullen, whispered note.  This band truly has versatility.  We look forward to hearing the band hone their sound. 

Come out to Hypercolor on Sunday, 5/19 @ Gallery 5 with RVA’s Silversmiths and Brooklyn’s Annie & the Beekeepers (Americana). 

photo by Coldon Martin

photo by Tom Applegate

Brother Rutherford - Take Root

The drummer from Houdan the Mystic, Ethan Johnstone, has a fairly new solo album out under the name Brother Rutherford.  Another album released by The Subterranea Collective, Take Root is a beautiful earthen pastorale combining the best of progressive chamber pop and electronic effects. Johnstone provides the elements of classical music and mathy post-rock and his sound almost sounds like a harpsichord. Johnstone’s 12-string guitar is played beautifully against what sounds like a bowed cello. 

Check out “Gnome Time Prison,” which begins with some spoken far-off words a la Weezer.  The drums step in and the beats Johnstone kicks amidst his complicated yet repetitive treble are just rocking enough.  “They’re idiots!” is a phrase that gets manipulated and distorted as the delay keeps running.  Very psychedelic.

James Wallace and the Naked Light - “To the River”

Nashville/RVA band James Wallace and the Naked Light has released another new video.  This one, directed and shot by Paul Greenhouse, is a one-shot video taken from the reflection of someone’s eye.  Wallace sits and plays within the pupil of this large eye.  Looking this closely at the eye also reveals some mascara clumps. 

The song is a gentle folk track with Paul Simon similarities.  The twang asserts itself “before the fire rains from above.”

guisemusic:

“Sparrow” by HYPERCOLOR from Richmond, VA.

The band Hypercolor had its first show last night, and the band also appears on Style Weekly’s Sounds of Richmond mixtape.  There ain’t nothin “hyper” about this slothy folk tune.  In fact, the vocalist almost whispers while a 12-string guitar and what sounds like church organ fill the extra space.  This is another project involving bassist Keith Paul (we just blogged about his other recent project, Dumb Waiter).

Here is another track from the same band, and it goes in a completely different direction.  The lead singer (Alexandra Spalding) is a female, first of all, and the song is louder in its quiet moments than the prior song was in its noisiest times.  The blues rock jets adrenaline in your brain and it sounds even better.  Also, look at the band’s facebook page for the video for “Yellow Brick Road” which I can’t link here.

Check out the pictures from last night’s debut show (by Coldon Martin):

EDIT: So the band just released a few songs from its upcoming album:

Robin Payne - Demo 2013

Classical guitarist Robin Payne has put together an acoustic album of classically-performed pieces.  His songs include covers of Andy McKee, Antoine Dufour, and Andrew York, all classical guitarists/folk musicians in their own right.  Payne really uses his whole instrument to achieve a variety of sounds…the percussive elements of his nylon strings attain a softer, more organic tone.  He also uses a steel string guitar, and you can definitely feel the metallic nature when he switches up.

I took this photo at Sprout in May 2011.

James Wallace and the Naked Light - “Colored Lights”

James Wallace and the Naked Light spend their time in both Nashville and RVA.  It looks like some people from Spacebomb Records are in the Naked Light, including Matthew E. White.  The band just released a single called “Colored Lights,” and it is adorable.  Containing elements such as plucked ukulele, a junk percussion system, hand claps, and a soft falsetto. 

The band is on tour now, but it doesn’t look like there are any RVA dates in the books.

Megan Parochka - “Down the Line”

Normally we try to keep up with the goings-on of fellow journalists The Horn RVA, but it’s hard to stay current!  Craig Zirpolo takes all kinds of great show videos (and engineers the sound), and here is a great one from a recent March 2013 performance. by Megan Parochka.  The raw acoustic renderings offer an intimate look at the musician.  Her voice is stark, soulful and forceful as she bends her ukulele.

Check out “The Golden Sun” (about her late grandfather) featuring flautist Georgie Isaacs:

 Keep your eyes peeled for more performances from Studio C this week!

The Iron Sights - EP

The Iron Sights are a fairly new folk rock band who just released an EP. Isaac Friend (guitar) and Blair Simpson (piano) provide vocals, usually with complicated harmonies.  Listen to “Calling It Quits” for a tumultuous break up track with layers of guitars and piano. 

RIYL: Andrew Bird, Ben Folds, Trouvere

Be sure to check out The Iron Sights on Thursday, 3/28 @ Emilio’s with Red States and The Soothsayer.