From Now to OK: Press Release
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
10 YEARS IN THE MAKING
NY TRIO SPRINGHOUSE TO RELEASE SURPRISING NEW FROM NOW TO OK
THEN TOUR WITH MAGNETIC MORNING (INTERPOL/SWERVERDRIVER HOOKUP);
BAND
TO ADOPT RADIOHEAD “PAY WHAT YOU LIKE” DOWNLOAD FORMAT
AND LIMITED EDITION LETTERPRESS ART-PACKAGE CD
With their first album in 15 years (!), New York’s original
1988-1993 shoegaze killers Springhouse have returned with a bold
new direction, with their new, more acoustic-minded, orchestral pop
masterpiece From Now to OK on Independent Project Records. Stealing
a page from the new Radiohead model, the group will offer the album
for free this Fall with a pass the hat “donations”-style
payment scheme, as well as a limited edition fine art letterpress
CD package designed by twice-Grammy-nominated Bruce Licher. And the
group are further set to do their first gigs in six years (since
last reuniting to tour with original inspiration Chameleons U.K.
in 2002), supporting Magnetic Morning—a duo of Interpol
drummer Sam Fogarino and Adam Franklin, leader of Swervedriver,
playing
after great new D.C. quartet Julie Ocean in a Big Takeover
Magazine Presents
tour!
The revived New York trio are perhaps remembered as the first
major-signed, nationally touring U.S. shoegaze band of the
original era—with
a 1991 MTV video “Layers,” Rolling Stone “New Faces” feature,
and copious airplay bringing notice to two memorable albums on the
fabled Virgin Records’ subsidiary Caroline Records—home
then to Smashing Pumpkins, Hole, Drop 19s, Naked Raygun, Idaho, Misfits,
etc. Springhouse were among the first Americans to cover My Bloody
Valentine, and share stages across the country with House of Love,
Ride, Kitchens of Distinction, Ocean Blue, The Chills, Psychedelic
Furs, Judybats, and others. (Plus, oddly, on a WHFS Baltimore festival,
with a fledgling Dave Matthews Band.) Now they’re reborn
and reanimated as an orchestral-folk-pop hybrid, bound to surprise
and
please old fans and the newly curious.
And though Springhouse’s unique contribution to the original
movement—singer/songwriter Mitch Friedland’s exclusive
use of small, nylon-stringed acoustic guitars, heavily processed
with wicked effects, while employing an endless battery of alternate
tunings!—has been shelved in favor of a more organic, crisp
sound, their exuberant playing, highly evolved arrangements, and
love of a tune to die for remains their calling card. Amazingly,
their first self-produced record (by bassist Larry Heinemann), is
the culmination of a solid decade of work. It’s true:
Sessions for From Now to OK began in 1998 and did not stop
until all were
satisfied that their envisioned opus had been fully realized.
Despite all three original members returning, From Now to OK
is not the anticipated follow-up to their dreampop masterpieces,
1991’s
Land Falls and 1993’s Postcards From the Arctic (produced by
current Shins mixer Joe Chiccarelli), nor their debut single for
Bob Mould’s Singles Only label, 1990’s “Menagerie
Keeper,” as much as a continuation of the trio’s melodic
guitar pop prowess, and an accentuation of latent ‘60s Britfolk
underpinnings. (In old interviews, Mitch Friedland professed a left-field
love of Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, Bert Jansch, and John Martyn,
before such artists became fashionable.) Such triumphant songs as
the well-titled, zinging opener “Passion,” the elegiac
glider “No More Yesterdays,” the zippy “Moving
Van,” and the horns-infused ‘60s AM baroque pop gold
of “Time Runs Out” (sung by underground legend/drummer
Jack Rabid) are timeless in their catchy depth, all infused
with warmth, longing, bittersweet regret, and the excitement
of new
beginnings.
If there is one old song that presaged their current flavor,
it was “Layers,” a
1991 MTV 120 Minutes favorite directed by Michael Stipe’s old
partner in C00 films, Jim McKay (viewable at myspace.com/springhouse). “Layers” seems
prescient given its environmental themes—a science fiction
look at a world without an Ozone layer, its nature scenes interspersed
with polluting smokestacks—concurrent to the band’s stand
against the era’s wasteful CD longbox packaging. (Land Falls
was solely issued on digipack, well ahead of the current curve.)
That conviction is seen again in Licher’s From Now to OK’s
fine art, letter-pressed foldout sleeve, a work of art as lasting
as the music. Licher has also revived his long-beloved Independent
Project imprint for the album. (Licher designed Land Falls’ environmental-themed
sleeve, 17 years ago.) Although the band’s lyrical themes
are personal (much like the harrowing, divorce-tinged swansong,
Postcards
From the Arctic), they still communicate through a total art
package.
And Springhouse’s re-emergence on album follows all three members’ frantic
activities in the interim. Larry Heinemann has toured the world as
the original Musical Director and studio engineer of the wildly popular
Blue Man Group, touring with David Bowie, Moby, and Buster Ryhmes
and appearing frequently on Jay Leno and other TV showcases. He’s
produced several albums as well, for Tracy Bonham, Code Mesa, Hayes
Peebles, and mixed others for Peter Moore and Slow Learner. 20-year
New York City Paramedic (a topic of fascination in the band’s
old press!) Mitch Friedland was promoted to Lieutenant, but kept
writing songs. And Jack Rabid has spent 28 years as the editor and
publisher of the highly respected music magazine The Big Takeover,
when not doing Johnny Rotten cover stories for Spin, writing for
eMusic, AllMusic, and the now defunct Ice, playing drums for the
late, lamented Last Burning Embers and, a 2002 CBGB reunion of his
1980-1982 punk band, Even Worse, and hosting his weekly “Big
Takeover” show on breakthruradio.com.
All in all, From Now To OK is a surprising and welcome return
from one of New York’s, and the U.S.’s, finest
pre-Nirvana indie rock bands.
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2008/08/big_takeover_to.html
and: http://www.adequacy.net/feature.php?featureID=16&featureContentID=61
