"Shades Lane" e o debute dos estadunidenses do Smith Gardens. Um disco ensolarado, com ares especialmente californianos, uma vibe alto astral que faz com que até o mais carrancudo relaxe do stress do dia a dia.
Referências e conexões diversas, desde Beach Boys (lógico), até Wilco, passando por Pavement, e mais um monte de heróis noventistas ou não.
O ponto é que o Smith Gardens acertou em cheio em "Shades Lane", ainda mais, se formos avaliar que nem tudo é feito de caos e barulho, afinal nada como melodias assoviáveis para acalmar a mente.
***** Interview with Smith Gardens *****
Q. When did Smith Gardens start? Tell us about the history...
1. Well, we started calling ourselves Smith Gardens around February of this year – but Niko and I (Blake) have been jamming since we met in elementary school. We started jamming with Hunter when we met him sophomore year of high school. We called ourselves Sun Stripes back then and released a few singles but never really took it seriously until senior year. We changed our name to Smith Gar[/]dens and have played two shows, released an EP and more recently, a full-length album titled Shades Lane.Q: Who are your influences?
2. I'd say we're influenced by all the music we listen to in one way or another. Niko says his drums are influenced by Steve Lamos of American Football and Hunter gets bass inspiration from Mike Mills of REM. If I had to pick one artist, it'd have to be Jim Croce. We find lyrical inspiration everywhere, from what we listen to to what we read.
Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
3. There's a lot of amazing albums out there, choosing 5 is tough...the first that come to mind are Teens of Denial by Car Seat Headrest,
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain by Pavement,
Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips,
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco,
and Zopilote Machine by The Mountain Goats.
Q. How do you feel playing live?
4. We'd be lying if we said we didn't get nervous on stage but more than anything, jamming is one of our favorite things to do...and watching people react to our music only gets more rewarding each time we experience it.
Q. How do you describe Smith Gardens sounds?
5. In a few words, I'd describe our sound as pleasant, blended indie pop with warm melodies and the lo-fi sound that's to be expected from three unemployed suburbanites from Annapolis.
Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
6. Our songs normally start with a few guitar parts. Then, we jam to them until a structure comes together. Once we're comfortable jamming, we write the lyrics. After a song's written, recording starts with drums. Next comes guitar, bass and piano, and finally, vocals. We try to limit mixing and mastering to when all the tracks have been laid.
Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
7. That's tough, a lot of amazing musicians have hit the scene recently. To name a few, we've been into Whitney, Adult Mom, Told Slant, and Twin Peaks.
Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
8. We covered "Simple Feelings" by Twerps at our first show when we didn't have enough original songs to fill a set. Anything by them would be a lot of fun to play.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
9. We're all headed off to college by the end of August, but we plan to keep jamming, recording, and playing shows as long as possible.
Q: Any parting words?
10. Thanks for the interview, good luck with the blog and any other future endeavors!
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