AM Gold
(from www.allmusic.com updated)
The Autumn Defense arrived with the 21st century, capturing colors of a bygone era - the result of a collaboration between John Stirratt, longtime member of Wilco and formerly Uncle Tupelo and musical compatriot Pat Sansone (who has worked with Joseph Arthur, Andrew Bird, Phil Selway *Radiohead*, The Clientele, and Josh Rouse to name a few).
Between noontime highs and slipping sunsets, the Autumn Defense create a sound which both embraces and resists the moods of autumn, and so defines their name.
The multi-instrumental duo chase the sun westward to the California coast, gathering inspiration from classic L.A. pop and well-crafted melody basking in the warmth of the 60s and 70s AM Radio tradition.
Between gentle harmonies and instrumental texturization, the associations are tempting: a trace of the Beach Boys, The Byrds, brothers Gibb, Bread, and Zombies piano pop, Stirratt himself quotes the seminal Forever Changes (Love) as one shaping influence to their sound.
The Autumn Defense's first studio effort found Stirratt delivering the bulk of the writing effort, with Sansone flexing his talents in arrangement and engineering.
Other contributors included former Wilco players Ken Coomer (drums) and Bob Egan (pedal and lap steel).
The Green Hour was released in 2000 on Stirratt's own Broadmoor label.
Occupied with other musical commitments, Sansone and Stirratt carried the Autumn Defense forward in low gear.
Work began on the second album in the winter of 2002 at a friend's studio in Nashville.
After the passing of two productive summers and a lengthy winter coupled with numerous volleys between Chicago and New York, Circles was ready for release in October of 2003 on the Arena Rock label.
The Autumn Defense let down their guard on Circles to reveal the blue-green beauty trembling beneath.
Less ambitious and far more intuitive, it's a mellow stretch of earthy folk-pop, where horns and strings are used because they sound nice, not out of a self-appointed duty to past musical idols.
Between John Stirratt's busy touring schedule with Wilco and Pat Sansone's multitude of production engagements, Circles exudes the ameliorative qualities of a welcome escape record that was made during downtime, for downtime - liberated from the pressures of the temporal world where the two close friends could reflect upon intersecting ripples of experience and circular pools of life.
Sunny acoustics and vintage keys over lazy brushes set the character throughout Circles.
"The Answer" rolls out a strata of guitars reminiscent of Gordon Lightfoot, reinforcing the atmosphere with a rolling wave of strings and gentle background shakers.
Echoes of Pet Sounds radiate in the background of "Some Kind of Fool" with pensive bass-and-percussion breaks mixing with an cozy '70s fireside groove of vibes, Rhodes, and Bread-like guitar effects.
Though comfortably stoic on their second album, the Autumn Defense maintain the charm of a perennial explorer, for whom Europe is still far away, and the California sun could still bring love back.
Click Below To Buy The Autumn Defense "Self-Titled" CD
photo by Nicole Stege
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