The Mumbles are a Brooklyn, NY-based three piece: vintage keyboards, drums, and female voice. They blend singer-songwriter soul with jazzy grit and old time music. Asses will shake as life-affirming mantras are repeated.
The Mumbles are a Brooklyn, NY-based three-piece-- a tiny band with a mighty sound. Using two keyboards, trap drums, and a female voice, they combine soul music with avant and old time jazz to create "pop songs in the key of partying down" (Time Out New York).
Keysman Keith Burnstein and drummer Ethan Shorter met in the rhythm section of a 14 piece hip hop orchestra, soon striking out on their own in late 2006 to write tunes that would become Mumbles mainstays. As a duo, the boys distilled songs to their essence, rounding out their sound with the subsequent addition of vocalist Meredith Claire. Burnstein heard Claire sing at an open mic night in 2007, and was so impressed that he asked her to join the Mumbles on the spot.
As a trio, the band delights in a dynamic that "...marries the bedroom intimacy of a singer-songwriter, with the expansive musical prowess of a psych jazz outfit" (Seven Days Vermont). After the completion of their first record, "Once Eponymous", in 2008, The Mumbles have been touring the East Coast on the heels of a national AAA radio campaign, with fine stations nation wide playing the disc in heavy rotation. Critics have called the break-out single, 'Bite-Size (Brawn w/ Brio)', "Lounge music for the super-hip" (Roanoke Times) with a vibe that is "...equal parts Tom Waits gruffness and Woody Allen pathos" (The L Magazine).
During breaks in their travels, The Mumbles recorded a follow-up EP, entitled "Muddy Mantras", which will be out in June 2009. After that, it's back out on the road with gigs on the West Coast, New Orleans,The Deep South, and a month-long East Coast run in August. The band's newest mantra: "Speak softly and learn how to change a tire".
Hey thanks for playing in Boone, it was such a great show. Drummer - Chops! You make a crazy man face when you play and its awesome. Front Lady - What a fantastic voice, and stage presence Keys - Bass line and keys at the same time?! Now I call that coordination.
Hey Mumblesonians! Don't miss the big Brooklyn Night at BaltimoreChop Books, Music and Coffee House in downtown Baltimore - it's the Mumbles AND Kittens Ablaze...it's Saturday night - and best of all it's FREE!
AHA! on second thought...Did Ethan tell you that your band reminds me of Wallace Stevens poem Sunday Morning? WOW! How great is it to see and feel the new order of the sun?
JFJO returns to Boston on October 10th with a LATE night at the Blue Note! This is JFJO's last trip east in 2008. Right after the show the guys head for a plane to Europe where they will travel to England, Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden!
See you there!
Yea Thanks for the quick shout back! I like your concept and how you're makin it yours. peace tg I'm traveling thru Philly in October and wanted to rap a bit about. Perhaps i should message you. peace tg