Monday, June 18, 2012

Athens GA's Efren to release new LP tomorrow, June 19!


Listen to the full album stream at AOL Music.

Photo: Chad Osburn

"Always Been A Bleeder is a late summer treat on a stick that suggests these boys might be ready to go toe-to-toe with simpatico artists like Iron & Wine or Matt Bauer." - My Old Kentucky Blog

While all the rocks have been turned hundreds of times and the melodies have become inverted to a fray, music still creates the freedom, expression and escape that makes our world continue to search for innovation. A man who originally came to town to play jazz guitar, Scott Low quit it all for the song.

Write A New Song, the newest album from Efren is equal parts rock, americana, folk, country, and psychedelic. After producing three previous independent bedroom records (Thunder and Moan, Always Been a Bleeder, and Rise on Up and Melt) Efren has found a new electric sound. The band went into the classic, southern Full Moon Studios in Watkinsville, GA following a sudden marital split and with a dozen songs written to release the energy of the present and past. Efren created a whiskey drenched, bar floor stomping record.


With a gruff voice and thick guitars, the band has pulled from local heroes the Drive-by Truckers, Drivin’ and Cryin’, Dead Confederate, and Futurebirds, along with the southern choruses of Lucero and Lambchop. The title track ‘Write a New Song’ brings a thick chorus sung with the help of Athens darling Betsy Franck and Jonathan Brill. “Who you find in your oceans may never be what you expect, Mama said I’m attracted to the hard times.”



“Been living like I’m in a country song, lost and lonely way too far gone.” A year beyond a sudden divorce, Scott Low donned a big red electric guitar and wrote to the angst and hurt, then decided to turn it up and feel the music physically, even harder. “If my heart don’t fail me then this whiskey probably will….” indulges in the southern rock “jam” again joined by Betsy Franck and a thick organ provided by Scotty Nicholson (Soul Miner’s Daughter, Barefoot Hookers, Dangfly). “Live for the lovers in all these towns…” Townes van Zandt, Willie, Johnny, and Dylan echo in and out of the verses, tied with grunge and indie strings.

NEW MP3 (cleared to post): Efren - "If My Heart Don't Fail Me" (via Blurt)
MP3 (cleared to post): Efren - "The Woods and The Wild"

With no plans to slow down, Efren will find new bars, stages, and songs to record. Scott, Jonathan, Darrin, and Jamie feel like they have just begun to find their sound. The family changes, new love, growing children, bourbon nights and country sights all fuel the band to new sonic levels that leave their live shows the stuff of legend. These songs are the result of those legendary four hour shows. Whether they’re pushing to get the ears and hearts of a room or the speakers in a truck out in Madison County, Efren brings it with Write A New Song.

Artist -  Efren
Album Write A New Song
Release Date - June 19, 2012
Label - Slo ProRecords

Tracklist:

01.  Write A New Song
04.  Old Mountain Road
05.  The Last 40 Days
06.  Family Tree Of Recovery
07.  Beam’s Beams
08.  Find A New Man
09.  The Dirty Bourbon Blues
10.  Ribbons
11.  Lily-Anna
12.  Milkman

"These part folk, part psychedelic jazz, pinch of bluesy rock, dash of country twang songs are the songs that fill the night sky around a bonfire in Autumn. They are the songs you hum as you clear away empty whiskey bottles and cigarette butts from the low-key gathering of friends you hosted on your porch last night. They are the songs that play when you remember that perfect first date that eventually lead to the worst breakup of your life, fond and fragile."  - The Silver Tongue 

 "...lush harmonies that make them memorable and showcases a swagger where the band doesn't try hard to be good but still comes off as calm, cool and collected." - The Fire Note

Efren online
Efren on Twitter
Efren on Facebook

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