BOOKING INQUIRIES: Tom Hoch hoch@latenightweeknight.com
MEMBERS: ryan policky (vox, guitars, synth) erik jeffries (guitar) enoc torraca (bass) sean merrell (drums)
Influences
pet shop boys, the smashing pumpkins, cocteau twins, dead can dance, slowdive, sunny day real estate, godspeed you! black emperor, placebo, dead meadow, sigur ros, swervedriver, hooverphonic, pink floyd, tool, massive attack, tori amos, deftones, tomahawk and any band who can admit they really don't sound anything like my bloody valentine.
A Shoreline Dream, best described by many of their fans as "Melodipsych Rockers" is one of those rare groups willing to risk it all to get their music heard. The band jumped in without looking back from day one releasing the much talked about "Avoiding the Consequences" on their own dime. Forming their own label "Latenight Weeknight Records", distributing self duplicated cd's during tours, and pushing it all as much as they could, ASD simply took the advice given to them by fellow musicians & industry folk to not let "the man" be in charge. Ryan Policky, vocalist, guitarist & one of the founding members of the group led up the "destiny paving" by putting his home up for ransom to get the money to make it happen.
After a few years of recording and countless gigs all over the west coast and texas, the group found themselves swimming around with many of their influences such as Film School and Airiel. After heavy airplay on East Village Radio out in New York, the band found themselves making contact with their current distributor, toneVendor, giving them that last needed piece of the puzzle to glue together and hang up on the wall. In turn, another influence floated up to the surface, this time becoming not only a friend, but also a collaborator. Ulrich Schnauss, after falling in love with both the debut album and the highly regarded "COASTAL" EP, sent out an email to his fans praising the group. While on tour with Innaway, the band found out about this and contacted him immediately. This turned out to be a huge jump for the band in terms of international notoriety as well as boosting their local buzz. URB Magazine named the group one of the Next 100 for 2008, local and national papers were going crazy, and many of their singles landed on zine/festival samplers, totalling over 1.5 million samplers distributed with one of their songs to date.
ASD found themselves glowing a bit brighter after releasing "neverChanger", an EP co-written and co-produced by Ulrich Schnauss and mastered by long known Low/Galaxie 500 legend Kramer. Unique in it's wall of vocals and guitars smashing down directly onto a pristine layer of symphony enfused circuit boards, the song demonstrated a powerful connection between the two artists. Soon thereafter the two hit the road together with Soundpool and Experimental Aircraft for a tour which one critic in Austin referred to as the best live show he had ever seen in his life.
Now, two years after the debut, A Shoreline Dream is readying themselves for the release of their second full length album titled "Recollections of Memory". As with all their recordings, this album was a year in the making in Ryan's "live-in" studio. Consisting of core members Erik Jeffries on guitar & Enoc Torraca on bass the band found themselves working on the disc with their newest member Sean Merrell on drums. During the recording many emotional events took place, from the birth of a new son for Erik, inspiring the song "The Night Before", to the death of one of Ryan's dearest friends during the final stages of mixing with Kramer, which Ryan can admit explained why the lyrics and name of the album somehow all made sense when all was said and done. "Recollections of Memory is quite literally what you'd think it stands for. As we grow older we recollect that much more. We reach out to what we once had or what we once lost, and analyze it. We faintly can see what life is all about, but yet we really have no idea. It's chaotic, but we don't want to let go, no matter what happens" quoting Ryan. Ulrich once again stepped up to the sonic plate, lending his mastery to three of the tracks, including the hypnotizing song "Hypermode", and a truly gigantic symphony of gazing sound in "Departure", written originally a day before the albums front cover photo was taken in The Netherlands on a life changing trip for Ryan.
A tour is in the works to celebrate the release of the disc and will be announced soon. Till then, make sure to pick up a copy of "Recollections of Memory" on it's release date of February 10, 2009 at toneVendor and digitally on itunes.
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"This album is nothing short of stunning. The beautiful sounds, the ethereal vocals, the rhythms, the speeds, the tones…everything about this record is electrifying." - RECOLLECTIONS OF MEMORY
Stereo Subversion
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"What puts A Shoreline Dream into a different class is their ability to push the limits within the confines of a four minute track because many bands in this genre encapsulate their vibe into long seven or eight minutes."
THE FIRE NOTE
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"A Shoreline Dream's Sonics Outrun Terminology, Shoegaze."
WIRED Magazine
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"When Avoiding the Consequences' hour-long stare finally breaks, there's sea foam at your feet, sleep in your eyes, and it's clear why Ryan Policky and his Colorado-based four-piece call themselves A Shoreline Dream. But while the distant melodies, the swirling, treated guitars, the understated drumming, and the muffled sonics are on a perpetual slow dive toward shoegaze, Policky and Company's ride offers up a different kind of atmosphere. It's a complicated brand of sorcery that spooks and rattles as songs smear themselves all over the record in an experience that never truly ends, even after album-closer "The End" promises you it has."
XLR8R Magazine
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"This Denver quartet has created a true Mile High high on their debut release consisting of tranquil, melodic psych with post-rock druthers. Singer-guitarist Ryan Policky sounds as if he's singing from the bottom of a well. Avoiding the Consequences uses precisely layered drones and Policky's stellar production to create the sonic equivalent of an aurora borealis."
Jambase.com
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"85% - A Shoreline Dream might be one of the most aptly named bands to emerge from the musical seascape this year. Their debut LP, reminiscent of Sigur Rós meets Placebo, sweeps high and low with the lunar guidance of a tidal somnambulant. As with the changing levels of the ocean, a potential to be drowned lurks behind every moment of tepid wading. But as with individual waves, the particulars of each track are overrun by the vastness of the sea itself."
Filter Magazine
Apart from being one of those comments you rightfully hate with all your divine powers this also happens to be...well, my stupid attempt to leave a trace in your frontal lobe that'll last more than 10 seconds. I don't believe it'll work, but I believe in unbelivable things.
The album. Download it. Either on iTunes or for free (on my page). Let it breathe on your playlist for a while. Let it grace your chips, wires, ears. It'll make your aura shine. Then again, maybe you don't like presents. Which is perfectly fine.
