Party: Shakey Graves and The Barr Brothers

Party: Shakey Graves and The Barr Brothers

Wednesday, May 27

Shakey Graves
The Barr Brothers
ON SALE 2/6 12:00PM
8 p.m. doors, 9 p.m. show
All ages welcome
$20 advance, $25 day of show
Presented By: Mississippi Studios, True West and Pickathon Present

Shakey Graves
"The first album was me wanting to burn down my life, cut my hair off, and run screaming into the woods," says Alejandro Rose-Garcia. "This album is the trials and tribulations of becoming domesticated, letting people into your world and letting go of selfishness -- the story of becoming a pair, losing that, and reconciling with the loss and gain of love."

Rose-Garcia is professionally known as Shakey Graves, and with his new record, "And the War Came," he extends the ground -- emotionally and sonically -- broken by his 2011 self-released debut album, "Roll the Bones," which brought him national acclaim and, three years later, still ranks near the top of Bandcamp's digital best-seller charts.

"Roll the Bones" established the powerful, mesmerizing Shakey Graves sound of Rose-Garcia accompanying himself on guitar and a handmade kick drum built out of an old suitcase. NPR Music named him one of 10 artists music fans "should've known in 2012," describing him as "astonishing...unclassifiably original. And frighteningly good." Paste included him in a "Best of What's Next" feature, praising his "gnarly composite of blues and folk," while The New York Times observed that Shakey Graves "makes the one-man band approach look effortless.

But while this distinctive arrangement continued to earn him an ever-expanding fan base on the road, Rose-Garcia knew that he wanted the follow-up to achieve something different. "With the first album, I didn't have any expectations except my own," he says. "This time, I was making something people were going to listen to out of the gate. I tried to maintain everything I enjoy about recording, the weird homemade aspect, but I was seeking a new, shining sound quality. The concepts for the songs are a little bigger. This is not the 'Mr, Folk, Hobo Mountain' album -- it's more of the Cyborg Shakey Graves. It's definitely the next step in the staircase."

An experienced actor who had a recurring role on "Friday Night Lights" and appeared in several of Robert Rodriguez films, Rose-Garcia started making music as part of New York City's "anti-folk" scene. While knocking around the underground music community in Los Angeles, he saw a performance by one-man band Bob Log III that pointed his work in a new direction. Since returning to Austin, Rose-Garcia has become so closely associated with his hometown that for the last three years, Austin has celebrated "Shakey Graves Day" by mayoral proclamation.

To record "And the War Came," co-producer/collaborator Chris Boosahda brought all of his gear to Rose-Garcia's house and converted the space into a big, open studio. Though the signature Shakey Graves set-up remained the starting point, other instrumentalists came in and multiple, wildly different arrangements of the songs were attempted for what was initially planned as a double album.

Most notably, Rose-Garcia wrote and sings three of the album's songs with Esme Patterson, a solo artist and member of the Denver-based band Paper Bird. "We started out just having fun and writing, and then that turned into some of my favorite songs on the album," he says. "We actually wrote 'Dearly Departed' on Halloween as a tongue-in-cheek, haunted house sex joke, and then we played it that night and people went bonkers. Esme and I write so similarly it kinda freaked us out, and I really learned the power of writing music with someone you get along with."

Soon enough, Rose-Garcia found that the experience of making the record was being mirrored in the songs themselves. "I was letting go of that one-man everything," he says. "I did need people's help, and my control freak nature had to subside a bit. It meant learning collaboration, but also knowing when to stick to my guns -- all of that was the experience of this year, and the songs were some of the more genuine experiences; some of them even became sort of prophetic."

"Only Son," a meditation on solitude ("I used to be an only son/My heart was like a stranger"), became the opening track and "thesis statement" for "And the War Came." "Hard Wired" is not, as it may first appear, about a relationship falling apart, but "about having friends with problems -- watching a friend struggling and not doing anything about it."

The themes of these ten songs, explains Rose-Garcia, return over and over to the idea of the "other." "It's not about any single person, it's about being that second, other person. Even the title -- I never thought about whether I was able to handle that aspect of things, of having these relationships. 'And the War Came' is a little bit of, be careful what you wish for."

Songs like "The Perfect Parts" and "Family and Genus," meanwhile, represent a very different sound for Shakey Graves. "Those have a lot more aggression, they're heavy and big," he says. "I'm a little worried because it is a new step out, and people have gotten really precious about the stuff I've done -- which is a huge compliment, and a dream come true -- but I'm interested in what a Shakey Graves song is to people."

Another crucial influence on the direction of "And the War Came" has been Rose-Garcia's lengthy and far-flung touring schedule (which has recently included stops at the Winnipeg and Newport Folk Festivals, prior to a headlining run this fall). "I'm constantly flying places and moving at a fast rate," he says. "Imagining what it was like a year ago is almost incomprehensible to me now. I feel like I've almost seen too much this year -- bands, music, places. And if that doesn't affect you in certain ways, then you're doing it wrong."

While his remarkable success story continues to unfold, Alejandro Rose-Garcia sees "And the War Came" as a pivotal step in the evolution of Shakey Graves. "This is a doorframe album, as we're going into a new building," he says. "It's taste of everything -- what might come in future, which might include just guitar or the one-man band thing, but not pigeonholed to any one sound. I wanted to open some stuff up and get people ready for wherever it's going."



Website:
http://www.shakeygraves.com/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/shakeygravesmusic
The Barr Brothers

"What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams." - Werner Herzog

Act 1
Interior; montreal 2008; cross-section of two adjoining apartments.

Brad Barr and Sarah Pagé meet when Sarah's harp playing drifts through the thin walls separating their two apartments. He is inspired and attempts to learn her music through drywall. They meet and become friends. Sarah, an experimental harpist, had been playing with various orchestras and performing with the esteemed singer Lhasa de Sela. Brad, a recent transplant from the US, had played for years with his brother Andrew in the Providence/Boston based band The Slip. He had followed Andrew to Montreal after a fire in a Montreal club they were playing sparked a romance that took them over the border. The two brothers and Sarah began playing and recording together in their makeshift studio, ultimately producing their debut record, The Barr Brothers, "...a dusty journal of hushed Americana, West African grooves, and voyeuristic lyrics, rich with artifacts...".


Act 2
Exterior; the Grand Canyon, 2012; band is set up on the rim.

Rounded out by multi-instrumentalist Andrés Vial, the four band members have been touring relentlessly since their record was released on Secret City Records. The wiling quartet decides to set up on the rim of the Grand Canyon and asks the tourists to film the charade on iPods. Its been a long year with many miles and shows. Its hot, and the band is prone to such hallucinatory daydreams. Along their travels, amongst the many highs and lows, they performed on the David Letterman Show, opened for Emmylou Harris, lost as much gear as they'd purchased, been nominated for a Juno award, played festivals from Iceland to Portland, and learned how to make mojitos.



Act 3
Interior; recording studio; 3am; 2013; a half-glass of whiskey sits on a Hammond organ.

The four members of the Barr Brothers sit behind their instruments in a large wooden room in Montreal--a recording studio built in the 70's(and decorated as such). They have enlisted the engineering skills of Ryan Freeland(B. Raitt, R. Lamontagne) to help them record and mix their second album, Sleeping Operator. They record everything live, including vocals. By the end of the year, after working in several different studios(including a session in Iceland with Valgier Siguròson(Bjork, Sigur Ros)), and many friends coming in to lend their voices, they will have recorded nearly 40 songs. They will have whittled the album down to 13. Sleeping Operator is a bold, dense release, an expansion on a continuum that they set out upon when they tip-toed into the unknown.


At 4am, the drummer types a letter to the head of the record company. It reads:

hey _______,

I imagine this record may seem a little confounding at this point, but we're starting to have some clear and united visions of the thing - it's getting pretty exciting.

here's my current two cents on the work as a whole:

in the time since we started making this record with Ryan, there have been two weddings, two babies, many miles clocked on the international road. needless to say it's been a liberating, joyous, but also intense time for us with a lot of major life changes.

this record, to me, reflects a complexity that is perhaps beyond what we've done before. not complicated musically, just complex. it has a wooly and warm weight to it - a big soft ruby blanket - a weight that is welcome and liberating--maybe a lot like these changes that we go through as we grow up a bit, build communities and families, etc.

we'd like the artwork to be Brigitte's diamond. this image to me has a primal, yet "from-another-planet" feel to it, and has all of the rust and beauty that we seek in our music.

ok, those are my musings from the studio couch. rough mixes on their way!
call me if you want to talk.



Website:
http://thebarrbrothers.com/

Invited: Lindsey Pearson, Francesca Benedetti, Anna Esko, Rachel Bigby, Rae Benson, Rachel Rosenwinge, Isaac Benson, Rita Erbsen, Leighta Marie Lehto, Eva Marcotrigiano, Charlotte Marie, Nata Lukas, Andrea Rapp, Mario Tomaino, Ellie McConnell, Judy Katz, Mark Bunch, Emily Zionts, Mimi Naja, Aloysious Salin, Darya Minovi, Melissa Fry, Liza Lou, Tim Schroeder, Zach Steinkamp, Julia Mayrose Schroeder, Michael Bator, Erin Butterworth, Shaun Kalis, Azsha Preble, Michael Puckett, Sonya Sobel, Ashley Krona, Laura Schwallie, Amanda Tatum, Lori Williams, Moss Kane, Amanda Bernhardt, Axl Rosey, Garrett Kahn show more »