Oakland-based band’s evolution of “raw,
relentless power” displayed on 2013 debut shows on new “Pretty” single; Hear it now via SF
Weekly.
+++
Steel Cranes (L-R): Amanda Schukle, Tracy Shapiro. Photo
credit: Russ Wright.
+++
PLAY, POST
& SHARE
Hear
“Pretty” from Tango, the upcoming
second album from Oakland-based band, Steel Cranes via SF
Weekly
+++
“Rollicking drums and bass collide with
salacious guitar licks... It’s almost hard to believe that the song was created
by a duo.” – SF Weekly
Described by MTV
as possessing “the slo-mo heaviness of a 2,000-pound pendulum,” Oakland-based
band, Steel Cranes – Tracy Shapiro (vocals, guitar) and Amanda Schukle (drums, bass, guitar,
keys) – is offering up an evolution of that sound on its upcoming new album
Tango (Aug. 5th, Mister White Tights Records.)
Tango is a more dynamic take on the “grit” and “raw,
relentless power” that MAGNET and Bitch respectively called out in their
2013 coverage of Ouroboros, the debut Steel
Cranes album. With a vision for the sound of Tango that was more
expansive, Shapiro and Schukle were initially stalled when
considering the logistics of accomplishing these time-consuming sonic
refinements in a studio environment. It soon became clear that the best option
was to record and mix the record themselves.
“Amanda has
been recording her own music for years, and she began obsessively learning more
about recording and mixing,” Shapiro
remembers. “As soon as we decided to do
everything ourselves, the control freaks in us were unleashed!”
This education ultimately yielded the more passionate
and layered version of the Steel Cranes
sound that is heard on Tango. Once freed from the confines of creative
deadlines and traditional studio environments, Shapiro and Schukle took
full advantage of their new work paradigm.
“We wanted time and space to let ourselves stretch in
new ways,” Shapiro says. “In ways
that don’t come easy when you’re aware of how much it costs to spend three
hours experimenting with the fucked-up tones on your old Casio keyboard.”
Most of all, a year versus five days meant more of
everything that made the first Steel
Cranes album special.
Schukle continues, “We’d been playing some of these songs
live for a while and we heard more in them.
More texture. More nuance. More melody.
More guitar tones. Definitely bass. With each song, we were careful to
record the guitars in a way that left plenty of space for additional
instruments. Tango has a lot more of a post-punk vibe, definitely some grunge,
maybe a little classic rock, and also some generally weird shit that I’m not
sure how to describe. But it is also more beautiful.”
The first single from Tango is “Pretty,” recently premiered via SF
Weekly.
“‘Pretty’
is personal and impersonal,” Shapiro
says of the tune. “It’s born from a
period where I felt surrounded by betrayal in my life, and in the lives of
people close to me. I was thinking a lot
about the visible and invisible forces constantly at play, informing people’s
choices and behavior. Part of why I love
writing songs is that they offer some sort of resolution for that which can’t
be resolved.”
Tango by Steel
Cranes arrives on August 5th,
2016. Tracy Shapiro and Amanda
Schukle are available for interviews.
Contact Josh Bloom at
Fanatic for more information.
+++
Steel Cranes
Tango
(Mister White Tights Records)
Aug. 5th, 2016
Track Listing:
1. Ebb
3. Today is the Day
4. Her
5. Sandglass
6. Happy
7. Take Me Down
8. What Am I Doing Here
9. The Poet
+++
Steel Cranes Links
+++
Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion
No comments:
Post a Comment