Indie Pop Rock Love
Melodic yet cerebral, catchy but never canned, Boston indie quintet This Blue Heaven has exorcised the pose from pop, ascending to an awesome afterlife somewhere between introspection and celebration with their much-anticipated debut album Quicksandglass, released on New Year’s Day, 2009.
It seems as though a torch has been passed from the likes of 10,000 Maniacs, U2, and Aimee Mann to This Blue Heaven, a group who has done the saintly thing of picking up where early 80's...
Indie Pop Rock Love
Melodic yet cerebral, catchy but never canned, Boston indie quintet This Blue Heaven has exorcised the pose from pop, ascending to an awesome afterlife somewhere between introspection and celebration with their much-anticipated debut album Quicksandglass, released on New Year’s Day, 2009.
It seems as though a torch has been passed from the likes of 10,000 Maniacs, U2, and Aimee Mann to This Blue Heaven, a group who has done the saintly thing of picking up where early 80's music left off (before video actually did kill the radio star) by incorporating the less tweedy elements of folk with old-school UK new wave. Add to that the indie rock earnestness of new millennial acts like Rilo Kiley and Death Cab For Cutie, and This Blue Heaven has forged an audible identity all their own.
Emanating both strength and vulnerability, frontwoman MacKenzie Outlund’s voice is about as honest and intimate as one is likely to hear in an age stocked with American Idol apostles and shrink-wrapped Top 40 hits. The band creates a sonic atmosphere to match: “We wanted a sound dynamic enough to express the stories our songs have to tell,” explains keyboardist Aaron Rosenthal. “We like to juxtapose certain sounds – droning synths with swaggering bass lines or echoey guitars over disco dance beats – to shape the emotional terrain under our lyrics.”
This Blue Heaven partnered with Austin-based producer David Messier of Same Sky Productions for the meticulous recording of Quicksandglass. “Everything had to be instantly memorable,” says guitarist/singer Stu Dietz. “Our goal was for people to be able to sing along to the record -- not just the lyrics but the guitar, bass, even the drums. With David we pored over every note, every part, trying to create as much melody as possible.”
Solemn or silly, heartbreaking or happy or even a little apprehensive, each offering on Quicksandglass tells a true story listeners can hum to. It’s what This Blue Heaven is all about. They recognize the sublime in the world of five senses, making intelligent music that doesn’t sound like a thesis, so that others might see it as well. Call them otherworldly, but they’d probably say that’s not the high praise most believe it to be. Maybe all the good that’s to be got is here in *this* blue heaven.
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