January 2010

January 28, 2010 In Nick Jaina

Nick Jaina To Release “A Bird In The Opera House”

A Bird In The Opera House – April 13th

And now with this new record, A Bird In The Opera House. In a way it’s a spring in the opposite direction of A Narrow Way; A carefully crafted studio album. When the band got off of the road last year Nick moved into his friend Local Stuidio engineer Lee Howard’s house having been offered the opportunity to record in the studio he’d been building in the basement.” Nick moved into the little upstairs bedroom and started playing some of the electric guitars lying around the house, which ended up informing the pop-ier electric feel of the album. Later Lee gave Nick an old Kay guitar, the kind that Sears used to sell for fifty bucks and told him to keep it in his room for a week and write five new songs on it. Hence track two’s title, “Another Kay Song”

Nick made this album in the in-between moments, at the times that the studio was otherwise empty, or late at night when Lee wanted to try out a new amp or microphone. It was a gradual process, allowing Nick time to sit up in his room and think about the direction of the songs. To deconstruct them, and put them back together. To live in them without consequence. The result is an intimate album that is positive and upbeat but also rich and dark. It adventures, endeavors, reflects and drifts just like any great story.

Tracklist:

Sebastopol
Another Kay Song
Days In My Room
Sleep Child
I Don’t Believe You
Officer Schoppe
Theresa
Strawberry Man
Semoline
Matrimonial Bed
Asheville
Cincinnati

January 12, 2010 In Rauelsson

Rauelsson’s Stunning “Siembra…” Out Now

We are proud to release La Siembra, La Espera Y La Cosecha today, available exclusively on gorgeous gatefold, clear vinyl and digital download (with digital booklet)!  Available NOW in the HUSHshop.

Rauelsson – “La Siembra…” Sampler Mix

also The Debutantes EP, now also available for FREE in just for taking a test drive through the HUSHshop

Rauelsson – “Debutantes” Sampler Mix

Willamette Week rightly gushed:

[SPANISH FOLK] On his debut full-length album, La Siembra, La Espera Y La Cosecha, Spaniard Raúl Pastor Medall (a.k.a. Rauelsson) creates a set of orchestral folk songs about “the fragility of life and the immenseness of love as a response to such fragility.” Heavy stuff, especially considering the whole thing is sung in Spanish. The question, then, becomes one of transference: can an album with such a lofty ambition translate to an audience that (for the most part) doesn’t speak the language?

I’ll admit that I don’t understand a word Rauelsson sings on La Siembra, but that doesn’t mean I can’t feel the weight of the songs. La Siembra is undoubtably a winter album; from the acoustic instrumentation that sounds like it was recorded next to a fireplace and the warm, earthy atmosphere, this is the type of music you want to hear while lying under a fleece blanket. Layered with a bed of delicate piano and strings, “La Calma” and album standout “Raíces (otro Aviso)” would hold up through any windstorm, but the delicate and noble arrangements only heighten the tension in Rauelsson’s voice. You can tell everything is not quite right, even without translating the lyrics.

Rauelsson—who now spends most of his time in the Northwest—recorded the bulk of the material at Hush Records headquarters Type Foundry with the assistance of Norfolk & Western’s Adam Selzer and Dave Depper. Besides guest spots from the familiar faces (Laura Gibson, Ritchie Young, Heather Broderick), it’s a relatively simple affair: just plinking pianos, soft hits of bass, barely there percussion and Rauelsson’s fluttering voice, which could hold my attention all by itself. In fact, after completing the basic tracks, Rauelsson returned to the Mediterranean countryside to track his vocals in an ancient stone-walled house. But no matter where it was finished, there’s no denying that he has a gift for conveying deep emotions through gorgeous folk songs. That’s one thing you don’t need to speak Spanish to understand.