Delicate Beats - The New School

Under The Ice

Spinning Coin - Albany

From the album Modern Country, out June 3, 2016 on Merge Records.

Modern Country

William Tyler "Kingdom of Jones"

TOO HOT TO NOT ADD A BACKBEAT AND SOME ARPS. 

"DON'T WANT NOBODY..." Drum and synth additions

A song for an upcoming 80s style music video....

Back Again

"We walked down streets and crammed onto trains, our faces masks of fear. Unsure how to react, we, collectively, did not react. We grieved for a country and an ideal we never thought would die. We grieved for a loss of certainty.

We argued about what we thought would happen. We preached understanding. We advocated for anger. Some people said that we’d at least get some incredible art, other people said that was a small view of a world we were quickly realizing we’d misunderstood. Everyone was right. Everyone was wrong. Art made in precarious times matters as much as we let it matter.

But what are we looking for from the art we enjoy? Escapism? A reckoning with harsh reality? A temporary shared hallucination? Music can heal because it presents the pain of being human as universal. 

Love is Love was written and recorded in the two months immediately following the election, but it’s not a record borne entirely of angry, knee-jerk reaction to what America is becoming. Instead, it’s a meditation on love, and on what life means now. Taking cues from last year’s City Sun Eater in the River of Light, it feels very much like a record made from living, shoulder to shoulder, in a major city: weaving psychedelic swirls of guitar between languid horns reminiscent of the best Ethiopian jazz—Love is Love is a distinctly New York record. It is a document of protest in uncertain times and an open-hearted rejection of cynicism in favor of emotional honesty. It is bright, and then, unexpectedly, a little dark sometimes too.

There will be parts of life where we will watch as events unfold and we will feel helpless. We will not be sure of the future. On good days, we’ll have each other. On the bad ones, we’ll turn to the art that helps us feel something. Love is Love is a document of the new world we live in, proof that light can come from despair and hope is still possible. We just need a little help remembering it exists."- Sam Hockley-Smith

WOODS - LOVE IS LOVE

Seaside

This is the first single of a new album to be released fall 2019.

lyrics

We were talking on the phone 
I said Mama, just leave it alone 
I've been working on these songs 
No, I ain't going back to school 
I've been working like a dog 
Yes, Mama, this is a job 
But this business is like the mob 
They kick your ass til you pay your dues 

She said that don't sound like no career 
Driving 'round and drinking beer 
Year after year 
Got another label on the line 
You got an agent and stuff 
This can't just be bad luck 
You're always begging for a buck 
Honey, maybe it's time... 

I said let me break it down for you Mama 
I netted five hundred dollars 
On a three month tour 
From Boston to LA 
After lodgings and the band 
Food and gas for the van 
I come home to a pile of bills to pay 
And it always seems to happen that way 

I was playing for tips 
At a place called Abandon Ship 
Three hours round trip 
Hoping to at least make up the gas 
There wasn't a single damn donor 
In that sea of broke ass stoners 
So I went up to the owner 
Hoping maybe he could spare some cash 

He said let me break it down for you buddy 
There just simply ain't no money 
No matter how good 
You think that you can play 
After rent and sound and lights 
ASCAP and BMI 
Now the bartender says she needs a raise (and she does) 
And it always seems to happen that way 

I turned on the news today 
That's where I heard the President say 
He's gonna defund the NEA 
So we can pay for this war 
Well I couldn't get it through my head 
If the cost is that art is dead 
Well it's just like Churchill said 
What the hell are we fighting for? 

Let me break it down for you, Donald 
And let's see if you can follow 
It costs less than Mar-A-Lago 
And those vacations that you take 
And that's a mighty small toll 
To preserve a little bit of soul 
But instead you've got another eighteen holes to play 
And it always seems to happen that way 
Yes it always seems to happen that way


releases March 25, 2019 

Written by Brian Johannesen 
Produced by Ryan Joseph Anderson 
Engineered by Luke Tweedy at Flat Black Studios in Lone Tree, IA 

Acoustic Guitar/Vocals - Brian Johannesen 
Electric Guitar - Ryan Joseph Anderson 
Piano - David Zollo 
Drums - Brian Cooper 
Bass - Ryan Bernemann

Seaside

Steven Crowley

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