Monday, February 24, 2014

Elysian Fields: For House Cats and Sea Fans (Ojet, 3/22)


ELYSIAN FIELDS SET TO RELEASE FOR HOUSE CATS AND SEA FANS (OJET, 3/22); NYC DATE & FRENCH TOUR, HEAR "ALMS FOR YOUR LOVE". GET IN TOUCH WITH ME TO HEAR THE RECORD.


‘For House Cats And Sea Fans’ (Ojet), is the ninth full-length album by Elysian Fields since emerging from the legendary early Knitting Factory scene, a hotbed of cross-cultural downtown music. In their lifetime, EF have spawned dozens of imitators, but their consummate blend of folk, no wave, jazz, and rock, to name a few of the prominent strands of their tightly woven style, has kept them at the top of their own category: music that relentlessly rejects the passing trend in favor of the timeless.

Singer Jennifer Charles, like the priestess of an ancient rite, transports audiences to the other side of reality’s veil, guiding and freeing them with her incantations and gestures. Her voice possesses one of music’s most unique tones, perhaps best described as a seamless combination of Anita O’Day and Jim Morrison. Her lyrics, spanning the transcendent, personal and political, reflect her wide reading but also come from a deep wellspring of language that is redolent of profound inspiration, incomparable to anything else in music, but in which a lineage can be traced through Leonard Cohen to Federico Garcia Lorca — at whose family homestead the band was invited to perform.

The main architect of the group’s sound, guitarist Oren Bloedow, employs a powerful arsenal of musical effects to plant each lance of Jennifer’s vocals deep in the listener’s ear and heart. His harmony, taste and restraint have made him a weapon of choice for such artists as Antony, Doveman, Meshell Ndegeocello and Regina Spector, among countless others, but it is in his own Elysian Fields where his playing and writing truly shine.

‘For House Cats And Sea Fans’ features a cover painting specially created by downtown maverick artist/musician John Lurie, in whose Lounge Lizards the young Oren served an early apprenticeship. Other no wave legends who appear on the album are James Chance, who lends his sax and voice to the noir-jazz romp “She Gets Down’ and composer J.G. Thirlwell, whose unsettling soundscapes underly the searing late-capitalist indictment “Escape From New York.” Other guests on the album include jazz greats John Medeski and James Genus and mainstays from the EF family such as pianist/genius Ed Pastorini, and top drummers Matt Johnson, Chris Vatalaro and Ben Perowsky. The record was mixed by David Bowie henchman Mark Plati, bringing luster to their sound while preserving each track’s essential intimacy.

ELYSIAN FIELDS ON TOUR:

03.22.14 – Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade (ALBUM RELEASE)
03.29.14 – Saint-Lo, France @ Le Normandy (Les Femmes S’en Melent 17)
03.31.14 – Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique
04.01.14 – Lille, France @ L’Aeronef
04.02.14 – Paris, France @ Divan du Monde
04.04.14 – Bretigny Sur Orge, France @ Le Rackam
04.05.14 – Dijon, France @ Consortium
04.06.14 – Bern, Switzerland @ Rössli (Reitschule)
04.07.14 – St. Gallen, Switzerland @ Grabenhalle
04.08.14 – Strasbourg, France @ Au Camionneur
04.10.14 – Toulon, PACA @ Théâtre Denis
04.11.14 – Cenon, France @ Le Rocher De Palmer
04.12.14 – Montluçon, France @ Le Guingois
04.13.14 – Toulouse, France @ Connexion Cafe
04.15.14 – Beaumont, France @ Le Tremplin
04.16.14 – Nantes, France @ Le Ferrailleur
04.17.14 – Brest, Bretagne @ La Carène
04.19.14 – Auray, Bretagne @ Les Nuits Soniques
04.23.14 – Düsseldorf, Germany @ Atelier Padao
04.24.14 – Hamburg, Germany @ Kampnagel (Small Beast)
04.25.14 – Dortmund, Germany @ Theater Dortmund (Small Beast)
04.27.14 – Munich, Germany @ Milla Club
08.16.14 – North Adams, MA @ Mass MoCA

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