Built around glacial Pink Floyd rhythms and spacey guitar and keyboard textures, the New Slave boast a psychedelic sound. But for all of the space they create, this band is focused: the hooks are sharp and the lyrics are clear, always down the middle and biting. If anything, their music is a sparse psychedelia. Through a haze of depressive and self-medicated sounds the New Slave embraces moments of clarity that arise during harrowing periods of emotional despair. And as true relationship drif...
Built around glacial Pink Floyd rhythms and spacey guitar and keyboard textures, the New Slave boast a psychedelic sound. But for all of the space they create, this band is focused: the hooks are sharp and the lyrics are clear, always down the middle and biting. If anything, their music is a sparse psychedelia. Through a haze of depressive and self-medicated sounds the New Slave embraces moments of clarity that arise during harrowing periods of emotional despair. And as true relationship drifts happen over time in real life, this band examines their own personal dramas in real-time, employing the space of several songs to examine conditions like romantic withdrawal and loss of faith. With their confessional lyrics set as the foundation, they decorate the architecture with subtle electronic beats, acoustic strums, cerebral guitars, and layers of keyboards. The effect is surreal but undoubtedly human.
The band's three members -- Craig M Clarke, Daniel Crowell, and Troy James -- are unassuming, non-flashy residents of Northern California. Traveling between San Francisco and Sacramento to work on their music, these guys are more concerned with honing their sound than their fashion. After years in other projects, the members of the New Slave emerge as California's newest mood rockers, bringing experience, focus, and heart to a dark project. Like the most oblique and spare moments of Joy Division and Spacemen 3, the New Slave often paint a cold mood, but it's always honest.
2009 is shaping up to be a busy year for the New Slave. Their first release, the Building Spring EP, drops on February 10th, 2009. It will be distributed online via San Francisco's Snowstorm Music and available in a limited-edition physical form at the band's shows. Meanwhile the band is putting finishing touches on their debut, self-titled, full-length. They are working closely with Jace Lasek (of the Besnard Lakes) who is currently mixing and producing the album. Following the album's completion and release in 2009, the band will hit the road, touring the West Coast extensively and continuing to establish themselves as one of the Bay Area's best groups. The New Slave can't really sit still, though, and have promised even more underground EP releases throughout 2009. - Andre Perry
Track Listing:
01 - See the Plan (mp3)
02 - No More Endlessly (mp3)
03 - Another Chance (mp3)
04 - Proud Little Girl (mp3)
05 - The Wave (mp3)
Building Spring EP (SSM002)
Release Date: February 10, 2009
Building Spring is the first in a series of three digital-only EPs to be released by The New Slave in 2009. It will be available for purchase via all digital stores on February 10, 2009. The EP will also be available for free at the band's live shows.The band's first full-length is scheduled to be released during the Summer of 2009. The self-titled album is being mixed and produced by Jace Lasek of The Besnard Lakes (credits include: Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, Patrick Watson, and Young Galaxy among others). The album features guest appearences by Jace Lasek, Olga Goreas (Besnard Lakes), and Max Henry (Young Galaxy).
Recorded and Produced by The New Slave. Mixed and Mastered by Daniel Crowell. All songs composed and performed by The New Slave. All Lyrics by Craig M Clarke except The Wave (lyrics by Craig Clarke and Daniel Crowell). "The Plague" painting by Erin Kelso.
The following equipment was used to create Building Spring: 1984 Fender Performer, 1973 Guild JSII, Korg Microkorg, Alesis ION, Fender Rhodes, Arp Omni II, Moog Little Phatty, Sequential Circuits Six-Trak, Reason 4.0, M-Audio Axiom 61, Tascam DP-01FX Digital PortaStudio, Alesis MultiMix 6 FX mixer, Tascam 788 Digital Portastudio, Takamine Acoustic Guitar, Guild Acoustic 12 String, Cable Piano, Kimball Organ, Yamaha PS-110, Proco Rat, Rotovibe, Danelectro Tuna Melt Tremelo, Danelectro Delay, Cubase SX, and Marlow’s Fingernails.
Press Inquiries: snowstormmusic@yahoo.com
Booking: thenewslave@yahoo.com
Web: www.myspace.com/thenewslave
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