Fanatic Promotion: Michael The Blind releases latest album “Are’s & Els” today featuring upbeat new single “Who Is She?”

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Michael The Blind releases latest album “Are’s & Els” today featuring upbeat new single “Who Is She?”

Portland-based band celebrates with hometown show this evening. Video for “Sympathies” also available.

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Michael Gerard Levasseur of Michael The Blind. Photo Credit: Rachael Renee’ Levasseur.

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“Who Is She?” is the latest single from the new Michael The Blind album “Are’s & Els”

[SOUNDCLOUD]: http://soundcloud.com/fanaticpro/michael-the-blind-who-is-she

[MP3]: http://www.fanaticpromotion.com/projects/michaeltheblind/mp3/michaeltheblind-whoisshe.mp3

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Click to read the Michael The Blind feature in this week’s issue of the Portland Mercury.

Michael The Blind performs live tonight in Portland at The White Eagle at 11PM (LINK)

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Portland’s Michael Gerard Levasseur, performing as Michael The Blind (a candid nod to his medically notable poor eyesight) released his latest album Are’s & Els today. The album was recorded at San Francisco’s Tiny Telephone studio and features the Magik*Magik Orchestra (currently on tour with Death Cab For Cutie). Are’s & Els takes its title in part from the name of Levasseur’s band The Els, a clever reference to the fact that all of the band’s members have names beginning or ending in “el”.

Levasseur has been called “one of Portland’s most exceptional musicians” by The Portland Mercury for a sound that combines “the velocity of punk rock with mellifluous traditional folk instrumentation” and this is evident on “Who Is She?”, the latest single from Are’s & Els, streaming and available for download now.

“I wrote ‘Who Is She?’ about a friend of mine who always seemed to have a different new lady-friend that he would be trying to hide from everyone. He was so carefree about life in general and didn't seem to me to take romance and relationships all that seriously. Maybe I was a touch jealous. It’s sort of just name calling in good fun,” Levasseur humorously admits.

Unlike some of the more somber tracks on the album, “Who Is She?” bursts with the sunshine of a roaring guitar solo and the only appearance of a synth on the entire record, both reminders that Are’s & Els was recorded during the middle of a San Francisco summer.

Closer in tone to much of the other material on the album, My Old Kentucky Blog exclusively premiered the video for track “Sympathies” which can be viewed here: http://www.myoldkentuckyblog.com/?p=29624. The cast of “Sympathies” includes local New York-based artists, comedians and musicians including photographer Kelsey Bennett and her sister, actor Remy Bennett, both of whom happen to be granddaughters of singer Tony Bennett.

Michael The Blind’s latest album Are’s & Els is out today on Alder Street Records. Michael Gerard Levasseur is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.

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Michael The Blind

Are’s & Els

(Alder Street Records, Out Now)