CAROLINE SMITH & THE GOOD NIGHT SLEEPS, DARK DARK DARK and DEAD MAN WINTER
Presented by 89.3 The Current and Vita.mn
CD Release Show for Caroline Smith & The Good Night Sleeps' Little Wind and Dead Man Winter's Bright Lights
CAROLINE SMITH & THE GOOD NIGHT SLEEPS
Little Wind is the sophomore release from Minneapolis’ Caroline Smith & the Good Night Sleeps. The album expands upon the band’s debut LP Backyard Tent Set’s storytelling whimsy, but shifts its foundation from the simplicities of gentle folk instrumentation to greater nuances of musical arrangement and soundscape rooted in modern indie rock. Loyal to the heart of the band’s sound, however, their songs continue to be characterized by unforgettable and endearing pop melodies. Most recognizable throughout their music, and the defining quality to their success, is Caroline Smith’s alto timbre, quivering through vibrato, classic, and controlled with the presence of Billie Holiday, Leslie Feist, and Joanna Newsom.
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Caroline Smith & the Good Night Sleeps began with just Caroline Smith as an 18-year-old songwriter in 2006, who earned her place in the Midwest music community. She began her career with a residency at Minneapolis' 400 Bar, a venue pivotal in shaping the careers of Elliott Smith, Conor Oberst, and local hero, Mason Jennings, who less than a decade before began his own career with the same residency. A year later, Caroline befriended drummer Arlen Peiffer (Cloud Cult), bassist Jesse Schuster, and multi-instrumentalist David Earl and the boys joined forces to support Caroline's folk tunes as “the Good Night Sleeps.” The release of their debut LP Backyard Tent Set, seven national tours, and constant circuit through the Midwest has garnered a committed following of audiences around the US.
The newest LP, released on September 20, 2011 via Boulder label and management company United Interests, tested the Good Night Sleeps’ boundaries and the developed intricacies of each song and the album as a whole shine in each of the ten tracks. "This record took a lot out of us as a band. We were in a huge transitional period when we were writing these songs and still not completely comfortable with any of them when we finally went into the studio. But because we were so unsettled with everything, the songs and the band, the record means so much more to us now because we got to see it all come together in front of our eyes and turn in to something we are all so proud of," says Caroline Smith. Little Wind was recorded at the Terrarium in Minneapolis with Jason Orris (Polara, Happy Apple, Haley Bonar) and was mixed by Tom Herbers (Low, Dark Dark Dark, Andrew Bird). After celebrating Little Wind's release with a sold-out show at Minneapolis's legendary First Avenue, Caroline Smith & The Good Night Sleeps have set out on a national tour, and hope to see you soon.
DARK DARK DARK
Dark Dark Dark revel in the world around us. On their sophomore album Wild Go, the chamber-folk sextet creates a stirring reminder to seek out the wonder and magic to be found in the everyday. Their sound sets Nona Marie Invie's soaring, haunting voice against an array of acoustic instruments, all the while leaving room for the listener to nestle themselves inside and take part. The 10-song collection is a marked evolution for the group, which began in 2006 as a collaboration between Minneapolis based musicians Nona Marie Invie and Marshall LaCount. These two songwriters bring together disparate influences including minimalism, New Orleans jazz, Americana, Eastern European folk, and pop. With stark contrast in texture, tone and imagery, the band has expanded and redefined their sound.
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Wild Go's first single “Daydreaming” features Invie's warm voice and piano supported by spare, clean drums, guitar with lush reverb, cascades of dirty, distorted banjo, and an accordion wandering through the harmonies. Written in response to Elephant Micah's homesick dirge “Wild Goose Chase”, the song illustrates the growth of the band's sound and songwriting over the past two years. “'Wild Goose Chase' really touched me,” Invie says. “I wanted to reciprocate in a way that captured a moment in my own life. I've been traveling and touring for so long now – and it's been great – but I have this internal conflict between having a nomadic lifestyle and needing a home.”
In the studio the band worked with producer Tom Herbers (a Minneapolis stalwart known for his credits with the Jayhawks, Low, and Soul Asylum), recording live to tape at three different Minneapolis locations including a renovated church/studio and an old theater. Of all the influences on Wild Go, perhaps the greatest is their dedication to live performance and touring, where many of Dark Dark Dark's songs first come to life. Playing together, the band lifts Invie and LaCount's songs to another level. “We try to create a magical space with our performances,” Invie reveals. “I'm always blown away by the number of people that come up to me afterward and say how much the music touched them. I love it when people can dance and have fun at our shows, but it's when people are quiet and I can tell that they are feeling it on a personal level that I feel like I'm really connecting.” Wild Go was released in October 2010 in the US on Supply & Demand Music, and April 2011 on Melodic in the UK and Europe.
DEAD MAN WINTER
On a bleak, cold, frighteningly typical winter night in 2002, the last band I was in before Trampled by Turtles played our final show in a modified pizza restaurant-turned-venue in Duluth, Minnesota. The show ended, our band ended, glasses clinked cheers. We had plenty of help loading out our gear that night. So much, in fact, that someone walked away with my electric guitar and amp. They walked right passed the car where it was supposed to end up and went off into the frozen night, putting a giant period on the end of a what had been a short, struggling, but very necessary musical time for me. I was now fully unemployed and sleeping indoors only by the good graces of friends willing to share a couch, and the loss of my instruments was more than a little devastating. Of the few possessions I still had, the one that now gained top billing was a cheap acoustic guitar collecting dust in a small room on Duluth’s central hillside. A few other musicians in town had similar instruments collecting a similar dust and we started what was our first acoustic band, Trampled by Turtles.
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We’ve been able to stay together ever since and had some good fortune that escapes many more deserving and talented bands. Lately, though, the drums and amps ringing in the back of my head have been getting louder and the desire to play, write, and record in a way removed from what I’ve been up to has been getting stronger. Dead Man Winter was born out of these things. I’d been renting a studio in Minneapolis, and with the help of some amazing people I set to the task of making a record. My partner in the dirty and thankless work of recording was local engineer, songwriter, producer, guitarslinger, and master of the vibe Erik Koskinen. We spent countless blissful hours exploring guitars, amps, mics, and players in the worn-in beauty and sanctity of Realphonic Studios. Without a doubt, countless more hours could have been spent but you can’t begin work on the next record until you put out the current one, so here it is. The musicians that play on this album, Bright Lights, are dear friends – there’s not a one of whom would I’d hesitate to trust a song that I hold dear. In the end, the whole experience has reconnected me to that couch-surfing kid in Duluth trying to figure out what to do next in this big, terrifying, wonderful world and now, with a few more years behind me, it’s refreshing. [Dave Simonett, 2011]
THE DAREDEVIL CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT
The phrase, "the agony of the leaves," derives from hot water pouring over tea leaves. As the tea steeps and the leaves unfurl, they release various flavors to the water, evolving the taste. While The Daredevil Christopher Wright's debut album, In Deference to a Broken Back, doesn't dramatize the agonies given them, they do face the weighty issues of cancer, death, and loss with a realistic and offbeat tone. Their joyful music is layered with the profundity of small moments that flavor life.
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The first notes begin with Jon Sunde of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, who studied classical voice, plays tennis, and dislikes fruit in his desserts. Mutual friends introduced him to Jesse Edgington, frequently clothed in grandpa sweaters with a knack for making some mean pesto, and finally, Jon's older brother Jason Sunde came on board after some hesitancy and a stint to Finland. And the music continued to evolve.
Two years ago, Jason's struggle with a back injury inspired the recording of In Deference to a Broken Back, the band's debut full-length. Mixed by fellow Eau Claire friend, Justin Vernon of the acclaimed Bon Iver, each song offers a story, whether centered on the true events of a brother's move to New England ("The East Coast"), or fictionalized as in the couple who have plans to be a playwright and stewardess ("Stewardess"). It is the depth in the mundane they prefer, the grouping together of "faith and rocks and slings and things" ("A Conversation About Cancer"). The Daredevil Christopher Wright are the park bench overlooking a mighty river, the subtitles to a foreign film, and the back screen door left to slam shut in the excitement of a ten-year-old on a summer day.
