Athens' Grape Soda see national release for "Form A Sign" 11/6; Under The Radar premieres single!

Grape Soda has its priorities straight: paying close attention to hooks, emotion, and a driving beat, the duo of brothers Mat Lewis (keys, vocals) and Ryan Lewis (drums) keep the songs on their debut LP Form a Sign neatly lean. Crisply tracked mostly live by B.C. Fortenberry, it sounds more akin to a Fugazi-style document of the band’s current crop of material than the shoestring home recording it is.

Simultaneously murky and effervescent, like the beverage with which they share a name, Grape Soda blends the noisy exuberance of psychedelia with the minimalism of post punk. Perhaps this can be explained by the Lewis brothers’ musical pedigrees. A lifelong resident of the D.C. area, Mat was weaned on political punk and spent time playing drums with DIYmainstays The Max Levine Ensemble and Teenbeat Records group Pocket Rockets. Meanwhile, Ryan was living in Athens, Georgia playing in Kincaid, The Sunshine Fix, The Agenda and more while running one of the town’s most beloved indie labels, Kindercore Records, amassing an impressive back catalog of over 80 releases, including classics fromOlivia Tremor Control, Of Montreal, I Am The World Trade Center, and Dressy Bessy.

The melodies on Grape Soda’s first full-length, Form a Sign, show a lifelong love of pop music in all its forms, resulting in more than a few total gems (“Not Mine,” “Smooth Rider”). The delayed-out Farfisa at times recalls the percussive rhythms of dub reggae and rocksteady (“Obvious Signs”), and occasionally descends into swirling blasts of noise (“Bullet Points”). Ryan’s drumming is a punchy, solid tribute to girl group stomps and blue-eyed soul, the same soul Mat summons with the urgency of his vocals. His lyrics have a wide-eyed questioning quality that lies at the heart of every punk lifer, without the aggro finger-pointing. Every song is uncluttered verging on deconstructed: rhythm, melody, and just enough harmonic structure to tie it together.

Artist -  Grape Soda

Album - Form A Sign
Release Date - November 6, 2012

Label -  Kindercore

1. Not Mine
2. Reason To Listen
3. Bullet Points
4. Obvious Signs
5. Smooth Rider
6. Across The Bay
7. Unaligned
8. Big World
9. Hot Toes
10. The Spirit
11. Not Our Time In Time

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