This is the opening gig of October’s Meze Festival and is going to be an absolute cracker. Anyone who has a love of post rock can’t really afford to miss this one!!
Caspian’s first full-length album “The Four Trees” finds one of post-rock’s most promising bands rising to new levels of creativity, execution and sonic prowess. An “elegantly composed assault on the senses, embodying everything that is worthwhile about Post-Rock” (Northeast Performer), what Caspian have created with “The Four Trees” is nothing short of a monumental record for the genre in which they inhabit, and the underground indie rock community in general. It’s an album that tugs at your heartstrings with every sweeping moment and refuses to let go. Quite simply, this is a record for listener’s with enormous imaginations.
“The music of Caspian is concerned with storytelling and creating a powerful atmosphere for personal reflection”, muses Philip Jamieson, guitarist for the band.
“It seemed natural for us to do an ambitious, involved record that told some kind of story… A story that could connect on an accessible, wide level for a broad range of listeners but still maintained a sense of unique, individual identity that felt personal to each listener’s distinct narrative.”
Big words? Indeed, and that is the essence of “The Four Trees” in a nutshell: A sprawling, dense album that is intentional and bombastic in its desire to make your arm hairs stand on end, but subtle enough to find your own personal space in, a space somewhere tucked beneath an enormous brick wall of reverb drenched sound.
“In some ways, The Four Trees is our answer to the dis-connected and un-focused flow of contemporary rock records”, Jamieson continues. “Throwing an album on and playing it from start to finish is becoming a lost art in the new digital iTunes age, and we feel like there are people out there who want more than a couple of great moments here and there that they can fast forward to. Under estimating our listener’s commitment to attaching their own story to an album is something we collectively as a band want to avoid.”
This is a wise observation by Jamieson. Though punctuated by moments of sheer musical glory (the triumphant, uplifting and emotionally devastating melodies of opening track “Moksha”, the all-out thrash to the middle 8 of “Crawlspace”, the gentle un-ravelling of the shimmering acoustic finale to “ASA”) “The Four Trees” secret weapon is its ability to connect to its listener on a level that goes beyond simply its recorded parts and into a world of sonic story telling at the height of its powers.
“Of course, at the end of the day we just want to make a powerful rock record”, says Jamieson. And rightly so – “The Four Trees” is without question one of the most musically diverse and instrumentally accomplished records of its kind. Huge bursts of guitar noise, galloping rythmic interplay, pounding percussion, pummeling bass and warm drones… Musically the light and shade captured by Caspian on “The Four Trees” is confident, bold and unique. Very rarely does a band encompass so much emotional territory while maintaining a unified sensibility and an unwavering sense of adventure. “We’ll continue making records that make sense of the things we’re experiencing as individuals and as a band”, Jamieson finishes. “And if we find some like-minded listeners along the way, we welcome them on the journey and move forward together.”
“The Four Trees” was recorded by Ethan Dussault at New Alliance Studios in Cambridge, MA and mastered by Nick Zampiello (ISIS, Converge, Torche).
Caspian is: Philip Jamieson, Calvin Joss, Erin Burke-Moran, Chris Friedrich and Joe Vickers. The band assembled in the autumn of 2003 in their native North Shore, an Oceanside stretch of land northeast of Boston and performed their first concert in August 2004. Since their first performance, the band has toured the United States 5 times in support of their 2005 EP “You Are The Conductor” and their debut full-length album “The Four Trees”.
“With crushingly pretty melodies, Thor-approved feedback, loops and guitar hooks, The Four Trees transcends post-rock cliches with meticulously crafted songcraft.” SPIN
“One of Boston’s brightest new hopes. Caspian has something real to convey with the talent to pull it off.” BOSTON GLOBE
“A wondrously ethereal debut album… chilling beauty.” THE BIG TAKEOVER
“A Conceptual masterpiece. 9/10”-SILENT BALLET
Tempted out of retirement, Stray Borders step up for the Caspain support in the name of “love thy beautiful soundscape, love thy melodic noise”.
This will be their first show back since taking hiatus last year.
Cardiff post-rock beauties Stray Borders have been dealing their soundscapes to ears since 2006, and ‘Lost in your map you left signs in broken line and waves of ink’ is the band’s first EP. The EP features four tracks of glacial sounding post-rock and was recorded
Having shared stages with luminaries such as Hope of the States, 65daysofstatic, Future of the Left, Meet Me in St Louis, Los Campesinos!, Vessels and Errors; the band built up a great underground following and gained national radio play.
Bayonets released their debut album ‘Wishes & Wishes’ in March 2008, bringing comparisons to contemporaries such as Long Island’s Brand New, Manchester Orchestra, Thrice and more.
Bringing critical acclaim from magazines such as Kerrang who called it ‘a glistening, towering gem of a debut KKKK’ and Rock Sound who described it as ‘bursting with potential’ – ‘Wishes & Wishes’ has seen Bayonets touring extensively across the UK and is stirring up a storm of excitement around this young four-piece from Hereford.
Thinking With Sand are two members of elctronic trio Snork Maiden ate lots of sugar and listened to Loveless, lots. This October show sees the addition of two other people to the stage who cannot be revealed for tax purposes.
Tickets are a fiver on the door and available in advance for £4 STBF from Diverse, Spillers and others. For full information, go to http://www.mezefestival.co.uk/
