BLACK BOOKS - Aquarena EP
Released: 11th February 2013
Label: Believe Recordings
Formats: Digital + 10” Vinyl / Catalogue no: BLVRECUK08
Black Books are: Kevin Butler - guitar, recording engineer, producer / Clark Curtis - keys, artist / Meg Gilfillan - keys , vocals / Ross Gilfillan - drums, lead vocals / Mike Parker - bass
Black Books is a 5-piece band from Austin, Texas who make a heady, atmospheric mix of dreamy, visionary pop and epic southern rock.
They began creating their heart-wrenching, epic, sun-soaked melodies and textures in 2010. As young school friends with a shared musical vision, Black Books have become a self-sufficient, close-knit creative family. Guitarist Kevin Butler is a professional recording engineer and has produced all of the band’s music to date while Clarke Curtis, a print maker and collage artist, creates their artwork and gig posters.
In their very brief history Black Books have already turned many heads. The Austin Chronicle hailed them as “Top Ten Locals to Watch in 2011” with influential US sites following suit with Indie Darkroom Magazine calling them the “No. 1 New Artist of 2011”. A flurry of others soon made comparisons between the lush orchestral qualities of Black Books and respected contemporaries such as Band of Horses, Grandaddy and My Morning Jacket. While others have hailed the experimental psychedelia that quietly underlines most tracks with the likes of Pink Floyd.
However, Black Books have an experimental edge and maturity to their ambient show-gaze indie rock that sets them apart. The ‘Aquarena’ EP’ evokes a plethora of emotions with its haze of sprawling, mesmerising psychedelia and sun-soaked melodies blended with something huge and anthemic - and all charged with Ross Gilfillan’s warm throaty drawl of a vocal.
The EP was recorded in the oppressive heat and record breaking Austin draught last summer:
“Just from personal experience, the weather can really affect who you are, and when I listen back to the recording from last summer, I remember how hot, dry and exhausted the whole world looked” Ross says about the band's endless summer of recording. Around this time Ross and wife and keyboardist Meg became parents and much of the lyrical content draws on his personal experiences of love and recently becoming a father.
Black Books release ‘Aquarena’ EP on 11th February 2013 via Believe Recordings. Their debut album follows in Spring. News on UK shows to follow.
“It's like listening to Band of Horses underwater… similar to that euphoric high portrayed in Tarantino films.“ - SYFFAL
“Listening to this is like wrapping up in a navajo blanket and laying under the big Texas desert stars with your lover, and, you know, making babies.” - YVYNYL
"Pushes the experimental envelope a bit further than most ambient, gaze-y indie rock without losing that approachable southern charm." - QRO Magazine
“It is grand, anthemic, and huge at times. Gorgeous melodies and the golden-throated drawl of Ross Gilfillan seems to coax them right out of the moonlight sky.” - The Birdie Blog
“This Austin based five-piece have put together an absolutely gorgeous debut EP... We’re smitten.” - Future Sounds
“A mesmerizing haze of lazy, sprawling psychedelia is maddeningly deliberate and highly addictive.” - BestNewBands.com
Watch the Black Books Daytrotter session: http://www.daytrotter.com/#!/concert/black-books/20054772-3738370
Additional links:
https://www.facebook.com/blackbooks
https://www.youtube.com/blackbooksaustin
http://soundcloud.com/blackbooks
https://twitter.com/blackbooksmusic
http://blackbooksband.blogspot.co.uk