Jacob Champlin will be your friend. It’s unavoidable. He’s too magnetic, too disarming, too … friendly. Not only will he be your friend, you will like that he’s your friend. He is innately engaging; he must have come out of the womb smiling and ready to shake the doctor’s hand. And his band is the same. cathy Crescendo (aren’t you already picturing an extremely nice little girl?) writes the music that you want playing in the background during a get together with your best friends. It’s intimate, joyful, powerful, and memorable even long after you’ve left the show – can’t the same be said about great friendships? The band instinctively trusts each other; you can hear it in each song and see it in the way they follow Jacob wherever his musical heart takes him, from whistling along to “The Camera Flash Song”, to the bubblegum ba-bah chorus in “Saying It Don’t Make It True”, all the way around the bend to the starkly beautiful “Bright Branching”. Jacob writes honest songs. He has the voice of a storyteller and he bends it to his will, running the gauntlet from peaceful to powerful at a moments notice. The band falls naturally into place with Gwen Ruehle adding her delicate keys and coquettish harmonies, her sugary voice complimenting Jacob’s raw energy. Annie Steffens and Adam Kiesling anchor the rhythm section: Steffens pockets the low end with a subtle, spartan groove and Kiesling performs a rare act in the drumming world, giving the music just what it needs, no more, no less, but does it with enough good sense to avoid sounding pedestrian. Luke Hawley completes the band’s act of self-sacrifice, taming his trebly Tele to whisper, until the song gods call for the lion’s roar. cathy Crescendo is a band full of kind and articulate people and you can tell from listening to them. No one steps on anyone else’s toes, they treat each other with the benevolence and compassion a person expects from good friends. They treat the songs the same way: The Bright Branching is a work of love. Listen and you will hear the humanity and sympathy, the truth and the trust, the honor and love. cathy Crescendo is waiting for you with strong songs and outstretched arms, and with the promise of great potential, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
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