red sparowes (sun march 5)

u:mack

U:MACK
Present
RED SPAROWES (Featuring members of Neurosis & Isis)
REST
CRAWDADDY
SUNDAY MARCH 5
DOORS 8.30pm
TICKETS: €16.50 FROM ROAD, SOUND CELLAR, CITY DISCS & www.tickets.ie

LISTEN TO RED SPAROWES AT: www.myspace.com/redsparowes
LISTEN TO REST AT: www.myspace.com/rest

Hi,
The incredible L.A. band Red Sparowes make their Irish debut in Crawdaddy on sunday march 5. Support on the night comes from Cork band Rest, who are signed to out on a limb records.

RED SPAROWES
At the Soundless Dawn

There just might be a certain warped truth to the phrase "guilt by
association." As in the case of Red Sparowes, its formal associations
with such heavy, propulsive bands as Isis, Neurosis, Angel Hair and
Pleasure Forever would lead you to expect that the Los Angeles
quintet's debut would be a masterfully crafted epic of primal urgency.

It is.

However, Red Sparowes is epic without bombast, heavy without a single
barre-chord riff and eviscerating without any clearly audible vocals.
The chiming, spindly layers of effect-laden guitars and the swinging,
entrancing drums on its Neurot Recordings debut At the Soundless Dawn
create textures reminiscent of Goblin, Tones on Tail, Godspeed You
Black Emperor and early Sonic Youth. Its attack is syrupy and
serpentine; subtle but frighteningly deliberate.

Red Sparowes is comprised of Bryant Clifford Meyer on guitar (Isis),
Josh Graham on guitar (Neurosis visuals and acclaimed video director),
Greg Burns on bass and pedal steel (also of Temporary Residence dark
chamber folk sextet Halifax Pier), Andy Arahood on bass/guitar (Angel
Hair) and David Clifford on drums (The VSS, Pleasure Forever). The
album was recorded with founding drummer Dana Berkowitz (The Cignal)
and Isis bassist Jeff Caxide, both of whom relocated at the end of
2004. The sum total of its sound, however, stems more so from esoteric
melodic guitar-surrealists of the mid-80's Blast First and Too Pure
hive than the fierce realism of the aforementioned cabal of heavy-psych
rock.

At the Soundless Dawn – an album of seven compositions with titles that fit together as a complete paragraph -- opens with a rapidly
strummed single high-string building tension as distant, delay drenched
notes saturate an almost dance-beat drum pattern on "Alone and unaware,
the landscape was transformed in front of our eyes." Pedal steel notes
add a further layer of glissando urgency as ringing guitar notes climb
hand-over-fist upon an ascending line. The second track, "Buildings
began to stretch wide across the sky and the air filled with a reddish
glow" kicks in abruptly, sounding reminiscent of the taut and eerie
blasts of Italian horror film soundtrack masters Goblin. Icy, piercing
guitars jut out from the speakers as rapid bass arpeggios drive the
tune ever nearer. Comparisons to the more lulling and lush tunes from
the My Bloody Valentine masterpiece Loveless would not be off the mark
for the third track – a beautifully constructed four-and-a-half minute
piece of gorgeous, somber guitar work -- although the band would likely
be reluctant to accept such a compliment.

Throughout the album, transitions glide and instruments smudge into a
warm wash of tones. It's an orchestral wall of sound that is equally as
entrancing as it is unnerving. The 12-minute album closer, for
instance, gradually builds tension with clever use of smeared, formless
guitar notes that create a sense of three-dimensional sound as notes
seem to move from background to foreground, flitting around an
imaginary room. Sparing tom drum rolls add to the growing
claustrophobia, until ever-rebuilding waves of strings cascade into a
grand crescendo that finishes as mysteriously as it began.

Although the band members are indeed tied to many other projects, Red
Sparowes is not just a side-project. The band has toured the US with
the Dillinger Escape Plan and label-mates Made Out of Babies, as well
as a very successful headlining European/UK tour in Spring 2005. In August-September, the band embarks on a full national tour with
Pelican, Big Business and Breather Resist.

While At the Soundless Dawn uses vocals as subtle instrumentation, the
group plans to incorporate voices further into its sound. This stunning
introduction to Red Sparowes, recorded in San Francisco by engineer
Desmond Shea (who also did additional engineering on the recent
Neurosis album, The Eye of Every Storm) is just the beginning for a
band that promises to change the way we think about heavy music. Its
family of related artists is certainly good company. But, where their
common goals to experiment with epic, cathartic music meet, Red
Sparowes branches far outside of the expected boundaries.

REST
Rest dispense of the notion that music should abide by strict guidelines. Without a vocal, what is there to grasp onto? Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus this is not! Atmosphere gives way to dynamics, which in turn swell to breaking point, via jarring white noise and heavy textures, before a final crashing crescendo and then it's over. Similar to the foreboding tension of Godspeed You Black Emperor!, the ethereal density of Isis and the urgency of post-punk/mathrock, the resulting sound is an eclectic and continuously evolving undercurrent of melody and noise which looks to envelope the listener. Well nobody ever said it was going to be easy!

The group have already released a limited split single with giveamanakick and their debut LP, "Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame", on Out On A Limb.


"Rest are going to more than equal anything that the rest of the left-field set can offer"
Phil Udell, Hot Press.

"Their name has been whispered in the most complimentary of terms and it's not hard to understand why"
Michael Carr, Inside Cork & 96FM

"Their instrumentals combined moody drifting melodic Lines coupled with intense metal guitar riffs"
Charlotte Dryden, Alternative Ulster

"Their songs are epic journeys which reek of instrumental greatness, calling up comparisons to Slint, Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky and GYBE!"
Trevor Meehan, Unfit For Consumption
RELEASES