"Seeing them live was amazing...I instantly felt a bond with these three guys. You see so many tired, boring rock acts doing the
same thing over and over, but these guys are reaching out...They're taking what we know of music and trying to twist it to a different
place." - Jim James, Sunday NYTimes, July 2, 2006
There is something impossible about The SLIP.
Something humble and heroic, hard and tender, soft and monstrous.
Certain people agree: The SLIP have brought the epic back to rock with their new record EISENHOWER.
Two brothers and a childhood friend, the three met in the halls of high school and immediately fell in together, later dropping out of
college and heading off - criss-crossing the country, flying back and forth to Japan (where they developed a strong bond with cult
superstar UA), and making lots of new friends and fans along the way.
These days, when not touring or busy in the recording studio, Brad, Andrew and Marc can be found roaming the streets of Boston
or Montreal, enjoying a cafe from the local barista, catching a film at the moviehouse or reading quietly in the park.
Brad Barr is the band's core songwriter and one of the great rock guitarists of his generation. He is also looking to join an adult
softball league. Brad is the troubadour who..s absorbed it all, from Blonde on Blonde to Bitches Brew. He has the ability to do
almost anything on six strings, yet consistently plays with taste, context and humility, understanding the awesome power of three
chords and a simple melody to bring people in.
Marc Friedman is mission control on bass guitar, the foundation keeping it all together. He brings the wide-ranging and eclectic
interests - from Gershwin to Madonna - that result in many of the trio's most enduring arrangements, as well as many of the
high-concept production elements on Eisenhower. Marc brings the nutmeg and the cinnamon. He's the virtuoso who has literally
invented new ways of playing his instrument yet also represents the band..s brick wall; constant and comprehensive in his support.
Andrew Barr is the engine and the source of the band..s chaos and primal energy, often forgetting where he put his shoes, and
dreaming up elaborate beats that tell real stories. Andrew's drum parts are practically their own complete songs, adding thunder
and lightning to the intimacy of a heartbeat. He rocks like Bonham and listens like your best friend.
Which brings us to the new record that these three have just completed. After drilling deep within their home studios over the
almost five years since their last studio release, the band finally entered the illustrious Q-Division Studios in Boston to create a
stunning new album that brings adventure, daring, and honest songwriting back to the annals of rock. The band's first release for
Bar/None Records, this is music that points to the future, synthesizing older influences like The Beatles, Bach, and Led Zeppelin
while also engaging in a current dialogue with the likes of Built to Spill, Iron & Wine and Wilco.
Co-produced by the band and the dapper Matthew Ellard (Elliot Smith, Billy Bragg & Wilco, Morphine) and with additional engineering
by good friend and fellow Montrealien Drew Malamud (Stars, Metric, The Dears), EISENHOWER easily stands as the most
cohesive and evocative work The SLIP has released to date.
The album kicks off with "Children of December" and right away you can tell that something truly powerful and new is happening.
Percussive vocal delivery over just four punchy chords that erupts unexpectedly into far-flung choruses and then backs out just as
quickly - It..s a holiday song for no season in particular, a jump-up, generational anthem for the yesteryears of tomorrow.
" 'Children of December" is the song that hit me hardest,.. adds Jim James, ..the way the guitar and the melody interlace, it's
incredible...It could even appeal to some kid who really likes punk rock. It's really challenging...
Immediately following is "Even Rats" - a super-charged, arena-rock racecar for your impersonal post-apocalypse. Hook-laden, and
complete with politically-charged and ambiguous lyrics, the track has already been featured in Sony Playstation's top-selling "Guitar
Hero" video game, and in doing so has introduced the band to a massive new crop of fans worldwide.
From then on, the record only pulls you further and further in, ranging effortlessly from intimate, hushed vocals to thunderous,
big-beat anthem sincerity, all the while telling a single intense and meaningful story. Massive Lennon-esque ballads give way to
angular post-punk deconstructions and gently transition into intimate acoustic lullabies. Virtuosic surf-rock intros drift seamlessly
into dusty, epic, headphone Americana...all of this, and yet, somehow, the story is never lost, it all ends up making sense. It is the
work of a band at it..s finest: a new paradigm in wide-awake rock-realism.
We are so pleased to bring you EISENHOWER.
RECENT PRESS QUOTES
"New Artist to Watch" (Feature)
-Rolling Stone Magazine
"Band to Watch"
-Stereogum.com
"Artist to Watch"
-FILTER
"'EISENHOWER...is easily one of the best indie-rock records of 2006."
-AOL/Spinner's The Interface
"The best rock album of the year."
-Huffington Post
"The SLIP are the real deal. This is indie-rock at it's best...Eisenhower is, dare we say it, a classic, undeniably great and gallant"
-Amazon.com
"The brilliant new album EISENHOWER, a potent condensation of the Slip's expansive, soulfulexplorations...once again The SLIP push their rock to the top of the mountain."
-Village Voice
"EISENHOWER is a warm mix of experimental rock, massive hooks, weird sounds, big fuzzyguitars and rootsy, timeless songs with a pop sensibility...the airtight vessel [the band] needs toreach the shore."
-HARP Magazine
"#40 - Best Albums of 2005"
-HARP Magazine
"Hopefully these guys will be semi-widely accepted, because it's really beautiful stuff."
-Rolling Stone Magazine (From “I’m Down With The SLIP” by My Morning Jacket's Jim James)
"Artist to Watch" (Full month of December 2006)
-WXPN Philadelphia
"...An excellent pop album. EISENHOWER is full of alt-rock sculpted with the sort of innovation, and played with a level of rigor, normally associated with jazz giants. The songs are smart and sophisticated but also heartfelt and humble. The album is certain to attract new fans, and may alienate some old ones...a giant step towards the mainstream."
-Boston Globe
“Seeing them live was amazing...I instantly felt a bond with these three guys. You see so many tired, boring rock acts doing the same thing over and over, but these guys are reaching out...They're taking what we know of music and trying to twist it to a different place."
-The Sunday New York Times (My Morning Jacket's Jim James "Playlist")
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