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Seattle band Red Jacket Mine -- comprised of singer/songwriter Lincoln Barr, guitar/pedal steel whiz Patrick Porter (who also fronts local rockers Explone, and has played in a host of Seattle bands, including Crystal Radio and the Bourbonites), bassist Ryan Chapman, and drummer Andy Salzman -- has spent the last three years honing its craft on stages throughout the Northwest, and it shows.
On the heels of their ornate, ambitious debut, Hello, Old Cloud, which garnered positive reviews and medium rotation on Seattle's standard-bearing independent radio station KEXP (with seven of the album's eleven songs receiving airplay), the band now stands poised to release its sophomore disc, Lovers Lookout, in Summer 2009.
Cut live to two-inch tape with minimal overdubs at Seattle's Soundhouse Recording with producer/contributor Ken Stringfellow (The Posies/Big Star/The Disciplines), Lovers Lookout is a work entirely more immediate and accessible than its predecessor. Touching on Hi Records soul ("Such an Easy Thing"), bracing guitar rock ("Childish Things"), snotty bash & pop ("The Pose"), and smoky balladry ("Fascinated"), the album finds Hello, Old Cloud's often delicate, restrained tenor supplanted by a newfound passion and confidence.
“We set up in the studio just like we play live,” Barr says. “Since making the first album, we’d become a band, and I wanted to capture that without any kid-in-a-candy-store studio artifice getting in the way.”
On their increasingly-rare decision to record to tape, Barr says, “It’s certainly getting to be prohibitively expensive. We could only afford four reels — just enough for an album, really. I kind of felt like, if we wanted to make a record on tape, this could be our last chance. So we went for it, and it was absolutely the right decision. It simplified the process in the best possible way. ‘Is this the take? Because we can only keep one.’ It either is or isn’t. If it feels good, let’s go with it. If not, let’s play it again.”
As on Hello, Old Cloud, Eyvind Kang contributes several characteristically-brilliant string arrangements, but this time around, Kang's contributions favor in-the-moment spontaneity over graceful composure. Nowhere is this more evident than on the hazy esoterica of "Apricot Moon," where Kang's viola wrestles fellow guest Ian Moore's angular, Tom Verlaine-meets-Hubert Sumlin guitar for dominance, consummating in a glorious cacophony of wood and wire. Moore also lends his signature keening falsetto to this track, providing Lovers Lookout with one of its most haunting moments.
With a knockout record in the can and an incendiary live show to back it up, Red Jacket Mine appear destined for the breakthrough their growing number of fans have expected all along. Beyond that, there's no dramatic story of tragedy and triumph. The fellows in Red Jacket Mine are reasonably content, and why shouldn't they be? The story is the music. And the music is good.
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What Others Have Said...
"Red Jacket Mine, fronted by the silky smooth vocals of Lincoln Barr, has created a darker American sound...with steel guitars, crunchy drums, and a guitar that often soars into beauteous oblivion, this band will satisfy the country-pop hipster post-rock scallywag in anyone."
--- Chuck Dula, Weekly Volcano, Tacoma, WA, March 5, 2009
"Hello, Old Cloud reveals how much Barr has grown as a songwriter in the last five years…I am confident that Red Jacket Mine are just getting started."
--- Hugh Miller, Unfinished web zine, May 19, 2008
"Hello, Old Cloud drifts along languidly, buoyed by Barr’s slightly fragile voice and intelligent lyrics. Like spiked lemonade, it’s refreshing and intoxicating."
--- Barbara Mitchell, Portland Tribune, March 14, 2008
"...on the cusp of releasing debut album Hello, Old Cloud, [Red Jacket Mine's] confident alt-country orchestrations sound like they've been around for much longer, as do songwriter Lincoln Barr's mature lyrics and smooth delivery."
--- Seattle Metropolitan magazine, January 2008
"Delicate, but not precious...[Starboard] showcases Barr's nimble, low-key guitar playing and hushed vocals...recalls a young Scott McCaughey...a very fine thing for a newcomer."
--- Kurt B. Reighley, The Stranger, June 21, 2006
Red Jacket Mine has shared the stage with: Everest, Retribution Gospel Choir, Ian Moore, Oakley Hall, Teitur, The Devil Whale, Amateur Radio Operator, Grand Hallway, Red Heart the Ticker, Paramount Styles, The Stares, Downpilot, Nathan Wade & the Dark Pioneers, Johanna Kunin, Sneaky Thieves, Chris Robley & the Fear of Heights, Casey Neill & the Norway Rats, Levator, Robert Roth, Tim Seely, The Maldives, John Weinland, Small Sails, Octoberman, The Dimes, Jonah, the Young Sportsmen, Bill Patton & the Credentials, North Twin, The Lonely Forest, James Hall, Whalebones, The Quiet Ones, Burning Rivers, Kris Doty, and many more...
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