System
Update debut includes
Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers), David Barbe (Sugar), Carlton Owens
(Cracker), Robert Schneider (Apples In Stereo), more.
+++
Sloan
Simpson as photographed
by Sean Dunn
+++
Sloan Brothers | In The Press
“That spirit of adventure is evident throughout the
album, and is one of its finest qualities.” — Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Simpson’s
compositional ear is crafted by his expansive tastes.” — Flagpole Magazine
“Punchy indie rock tunes with a touch of power pop... begs
to be played on repeat.” — Glide
Magazine
“Infectiously fuzzy pop.” — Treble
“A musical force of nature.” — Athens Music Junkie
“Beautiful melodies... Pleasant, sunny and energetic!”
— Indie For Bunnies
+++
Sloan Brothers
System
Update
(Science Project Records)
Out Now
Streaming Link:
Track Listing:
03. Cryin’ Shame
07. So Good (Reprise)
08. Amplified
09. Coffee Black
10. Into My Mind
11. Mirrorball
12. Smile Down On Me
+++
PLAY, POST & SHARE
Sloan Brothers | “System Update” (Dream
Tent Remix)
“Simpson
may not covet the spotlight, but he sure knows how to share it,” says Immersive Atlanta in its premiere coverage of the Dream Tent (aka Gene Woolfolk III) remix of “System Update,” the title track from
the debut album by Sloan Brothers. “A
good remix always teases out something new or unseen within the original. Here,
Woolfolk takes Simpson’s lurching desert rock stomp and reveals the disco heart
pumping within.”
About the inspiration for the original song, Simpson explains, “‘System Update’ was wishful sci-fi
thinking about a society that would take steps to protect their weakest
members. I’m high risk for COVID and have been getting grocery delivery since
March of 2020. One night I was too broke for delivery and ran into the store.”
Simpson continues, “When I got home I was angry about people who wouldn’t wear a mask while I bought my dinner. I didn’t want to sound angry though,
and I knew I wanted to record something in a ‘robot’ voice, so I hid it under
all that stuff. I grew up in the era of ‘Tron’
and ‘War Games,’ so robots seem authoritarian
to me. The lyrics came to me as something an authoritarian robot would say
about an infection in their assigned system.”
+++
PLAY, POST & SHARE
Sloan Brothers | “Love You So Good”
“My mother would say ‘love you so good’ rather than
‘love you so much,’” explains Sloan
Simpson about the new Sloan Brothers
single, streaming now via The
Big Takeover. “Just as a family Southernism, and it stuck with me again
after my sister (a progressive Baptist minister in Michigan) mentioned it in
her eulogy at my mother’s funeral.”
Simpson continues, “I decided to consider the phrase part of
my inheritance and built this song around it. All the singers on this choked up
when recording their parts.”
Featured collaborators on “Love You So Good” include Patterson
Hood and Jay Gonzalez (Drive-By Truckers), Robert Schneider (The Apples In Stereo),
David Barbe (Sugar), and Carlton Walker Owens (Cracker).
In its premiere coverage of the Erica Strout-directed video for the song, Treble calls the track “infectiously
fuzzy pop with a lot of warmth and sadness alike,” saying the video is “suitably
psychedelic” and “both heartbreaking and richly accessible, a loving tribute to
Simpson’s mother that’ll likely bring a tear to your eye.”
+++
PLAY, POST & SHARE
Sloan Brothers | “Anxiety”
+++
“Anxiety” is the latest and final single from the upcoming
album System Update by Sloan
Brothers, the long-time-coming debut from Sloan Simpson and many, many musical friends.
The project is a pandemic-inspired product. Simpson has spent many years as a
recordist, documenting the live performances in and around Athens and Atlanta,
Georgia. When COVID shut venues down, Simpson started to find his own voice as
a songwriter. When he was ready to record himself, his friends were there to
lend their talents.
Describing the origins of “Anxiety,” Simpson tells
music discovery website It’s
Psychedelic Baby, “At age 20, I was a
passenger in a car that rolled over around sunrise when the driver fell asleep
at the wheel. I made it out with only a broken collarbone, but the incident
touched off what turned out to be a lifelong battle with anxiety and
depression. This song is about how I always imagine my car leaving the road
while I’m driving, how that anxiety extends to the rest of my life, and how
medicines can only do so much for it. I liked the idea of setting that bummer
concept to a dance beat.”
As for the performers on the track, Simpson explains, “I had been recording Kevin Sweeney and his band Hayride
in concert for years, as well as hanging out and bothering Kevin, so he was an
obvious choice for lead guitar. I couldn’t pull off the rhythm guitar part
myself, but I knew that Jason NeSmith
of Casper & The Cookies would be
able to, and he did. Derek Almstead
plays multiple instruments, but his bass playing in Faster Circuits was especially fine, so I wanted some of that here.
Carlton Owens of Cracker plays on the entire album, but
this one in particular is elevated by his presence.”
+++
PLAY, POST & SHARE
Sloan Brothers | “Songs Like This”
“Punchy indie rock tunes with a touch of
power pop... begs to be played on repeat.” — Glide Magazine
“The song finds Simpson
showcasing his penchant for writing punchy indie rock tunes with a touch of
power pop,” says Glide Magazine in its
premiere coverage of the Sloan
Brothers single “Songs Like This”.
“With its bouncy synth and uptempo beat, the song is a fun romp that begs to be
played on repeat. In true collaborative fashion, Simpson enlisted some of his favorite Athens musicians to join him
on the tune, and the result feels both communal and celebratory.”
Simpson says, “I wrote this song after asking Andrew Rieger of Elf Power if he would sing on something, if I wrote one he liked.
He agreed. At that point, it seemed like something that was a slight nod to the
poppier side of Elephant 6 would be
appropriate. Andrew sings the high
part in the choruses. After recording basics, I realized it was perfect for Kevin Lane of local pop legends The Possibilities to sing in the verses
with me and add some rhythm guitar. I’ve been friends with Bryan J. Howard of Cracker
for nearly 20 years now, and he jumped in here on bass.”
+++
Sloan Brothers | About
Sloan
Simpson has been recording for over
two decades. Until now, none of the music has been his own.
This changes with the release of his debut album System
Update (May 13th,
2022, Science Project Records)
under the name Sloan Brothers.
Though Sloan
Simpson says that while making his debut album he was “listening to mainly The Cure,” the album’s opening one-two
punch of the title track and the instrumental “Cleopatra Echo” feels like Daft Punk invited Herbie Hancock to form a trio jamming with The Grateful Dead during that band’s most spirited era of
ever-evolving journeyman collaboration.
Wow, how did Simpson
get here?!
The Athens, Georgia-based musician played rock and
jazz guitar growing up, but was frustrated by the hit his talents took when a
serious car accident sidelined him. Simpson
sold all of his guitars and quit the instrument.
With music still in his blood, if not in his grasp, Simpson began to document, through live
taping, the local scene in his new hometown of Atlanta, eventually relocating
to nearby Athens after years spent driving between the two as part of his
recording endeavors. His new hobby had become a good habit.
“I had a permanent recording setup installed and the
reality of losing my favorite venue really set in when I had to go remove it,” Simpson says of The Caledonia Lounge, a nationally-recognized Athens club that
closed in October of 2020, sidelining him again.
Like the life-changing event that inspired his
recording career of recording others, the closing of the Caledonia was eerily fortuitous for Simpson. While live music was in shutdown, he wrote and recorded
his first song.
“It was the first vocals I’d ever sung into a
microphone,” Simpson says. With his
friend, guitarist Kevin Sweeney contributing
solos, the first Sloan Brothers
single “For You” was released later that
month.
Pleased with the experience, Simpson picked up a bass, more microphones, and drum software.
Though he returned to guitar, he says that even without formal training,
“playing keyboards is what allowed me to start writing songs.”
He also started calling up more friends.
Simpson explains, “I asked my friend Robert Schneider (co-founder of The Apples In Stereo and Elephant
Six Recording Co.) if he would record backing vocals on the song “Into My Mind,” and he agreed. As I
kept writing more songs, I would ask more friends I knew from recording shows
over the years to contribute guest parts.”
In addition to Sweeney
and Schneider, some three-dozen or
more local luminaries also appear on System Update, including current and
former members of Maserati, Olivia Tremor Control, Japancakes, of Montreal, Drive-By
Truckers, Cracker, Casper & The Cookies, Camper Van Beethoven, Elf Power, and more.
In fact, it was Elf
Power’s Andrew Rieger that
inspired Simpson’s songwriting on
the album’s first single, “Songs Like
This.”
“I asked Andrew
if he would sing on something if I wrote one he liked,” Simpson jokes. “Andrew
sings the high part in the choruses and it was perfect for Kevin Lane of local pop legends The Possibilities to sing in the verses with me. I’ve been friends
with Bryan J. Howard of Cracker for nearly 20 years now, and he
jumped in on bass.”
The tune has one the most relatable indie rock
crush-couplets you’ll ever hear and is a defining example of the quality of Simpson’s songwriting future.
“I saw you buying records and I saw you at the coffee
shop
I didn’t hear your order but I bought the same record
you got”
These words provide a mere glimpse into Simpson’s ability to explore emotion
with the kind of candor that only comes from experience brought by age.
“I had long been avoiding expressing feelings as some
sort of misguided version of the ‘cool’ that rock ‘n roll had taught me growing
up,” he admits. “Once I lost family, I realized that it’s okay to express pain,
trauma, and desires.”
After half a lifetime taking home tapes of the
personal struggles of others in song, it’s about time that Simpson is giving us the same opportunity with his unexpected,
thrilling work.
System Update, the debut album by Sloan
Brothers is streaming everywhere now. Vinyl arrives on July 1 via Science Project
Records. Sloan Simpson is available for interviews. Contact
Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.
+++
Sloan
Brothers | Links
+++
Josh Bloom at Fanatic
Promotion | Contact
No comments:
Post a Comment