Press pictures by Arvel Hernandez
As we speak SF janglepop band The Phone Numbers has introduced its sophomore LP, Scarecrow II, due Oct. 10 on Slumberland Data. It’s been 4 lengthy years because the band launched its debut LP, The Ballad Of Doug.
The Phone Numbers have established themselves (with out the assistance of algorithms or social media) as an important a part of San Francisco’s fertile indie music scene, sharing members with The Reds, Pinks & Purples and The Umbrellas and sporting a musical palette that takes in every part from the rootsier finish of Byrds jangle to Lemonheads-tinged power-pop to the pop sophistication of bands like The Go-Betweens and The Church.
Scarecrow II is their second album and a large step ahead for the band. Recorded by Alicia Vanden Heuvel at SF’s Speakeasy Studios, this set of songs is deeper and richer, foregrounding their artful tunes and wonderful melodies, including just-right bits of trumpet, violin and organ to the combo. With Scarecrow II, The Phone Numbers have created a document overflowing with heat, an earnest exploration of traditionalist pop that feels contemporary, important, and important.
San Francisco’s Phone Numbers are making music impressed by mid 80-90s American school rock, a sonically sunny detour from seemingly countless 90s shoegaze and alt-rock revivals. Thomas Rubenstein’s signature vibrant jangle is tempered by heady literary lyrics and surrounded by harmonica, violin, and mandolin preparations. Songs on their forthcoming document, Scarecrow II, harken deep
Minneapolis and Athens vibes from a time if you discovered your favourite bands by taping late night time school rock stations, despatched a S.A.S.E. for a catalog, and listened to at least one tune over and over till the mail got here.
After an LP and some singles on the Meritorio, Fruits and Flowers, and Paisley Shirt labels, their sophomore effort is out October 10 on Slumberland Data. Scarecrow II shines with tape-off-the-radio gems that echo again to a time earlier than gentrification took our favourite spots and when making indie music didn’t demand fixed self- promotion and branding. “Battle of Blythe Highway” is a gradual jangler that maps the claustrophobic competitors of a music scene onto the infamous-among-Literature-majors mystical showdown between Aleister Crowley and William Butler Yeats. “Be Proper Down” options Rubenstein’s earnest lyrics boosted by Morgan Stanley’s heavenly backing vocals and guitar jangle on repeat. Mid-tempo “Ebb Tide” works in a similar way, with ghostly slide guitars and organ supporting a pleading refrain that harkens a bit to early Gin Blossoms on “Alison Highway.”
On this document, core band members embody Morgan Stanley (The Umbrellas), Phil Lantz (Neutrals, Chime Faculty), and Charlie Ertola. Blended by Chris Cohen and recorded with Alicia Vanden Heuvel (The Aislers Set) at her Speakeasy Studios house, the band is supported with a better of the SF bay roster, together with Anna Hillburg (trumpet), Andy Pastalaniec (organ), Ok. Dylan Erdich (violin and mellotron), Tony
Molina (guitar), Vanden Heuvel (bells) and Lewis Gallardo (slide guitar).
The magic of the complete bay crew is cemented on “Pulling Punchlines,” a rocking jammer that swirls with anxious nostalgia and is lightened by Hillburg’s trumpet bursts and Stanley’s and Rubenstein’s singsong back-and-forth vocals. A take heed to the album’s ten tracks would possibly conjure the same impact to the world weary– an essential pop music intervention that doesn’t search to flee what worries us–however wraps us within the trustworthy admission that we’re all feeling it and perhaps we will get by it collectively.
he Phone Numbers
Scarecrow II
(Slumberland)
Avenue Date: Oct. 10
Codecs: digital / lp / cd
Pre-order HERE
Observe Record:
01 Goodbye Rock n Roll
02 Be Proper Down
03 Ebb Tide
04 Falling Dream
05 Pulling Punchlines
06 This Job Is Killing Me
07 Battle of Blythe Highway
08 Hemlock
09 Phone Numbers Theme
10 Scarecrow
THE TELEPHONE NUMBERS LINKS:
Submitted by Drive Discipline PR
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