Echo Session One :: 23 June 2007
Some video from the night...
beautifully shot and edited by John Gutierrez with help from Sam Mejias
Set One :: Larune :: Listen to the set
Larune sparkles up the metropolis with their cosmic country and groovy pop. Leader Kamara Thomas writes story-songs from an American heartland obscured by memory, myth and mysticism. Many of the songs seem to be deeply personal confessions from characters spanning a not-yet-told American history, and yet the chords they strike are peculiarly universal.
Band members Gabe Berezin, Lee Frisari, Gordon Hartin, Serena Southam and Matt Whyte help to create the mythical realm of each song. Four-part harmonies glide over irresistable pop and country grooves as the pedal steel trades sonorous licks with the rich and resonant piano. And lilting through the entire ensemble is Kamara’s unique, intense, milky-wayed warble.
Inspired by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan and Neil Young, Larune creates lush landscapes with haunting melodies, dreamy harmonies, and songs straight from a prairie ghosttown saloon.
Photos
Set Two :: Finian McKean :: Listen to the set
Ultimately cathartic and intensely personal, ‘Shades are Drawn’ is an album you don’t want to delve into until you know you can swing it in NYC. As a fellow country boy relocated, I remember well the emotions Finian McKean bleeds onto tape here. The loneliness, the claustrophobia, the grapple with a new abacus of monetary and social worth. It all leaves you with your balls shrunk into your stomach and an honest wonder if it’ll ever get better here. ‘Shades are Drawn’ sounds so good, it doesn’t really matter if it does. Even if you’ve never lived in NYC, put it on and turn it up nice and loud. (Walt Wells, Deli Magazine, 2006)
