Blue Cartoon

Liverpool, October 21 2004: Blue Cartoon are rehearsing for an appearance at the famous Cavern Club in a small pub across the way on Matthew Street. Slowly the pub begins to fill with after-work regulars, who eventually urge the band into playing every song in their repertoire. Rounds are bought, friendships are made and once again the songs of Blue Cartoon are the catalyst for an unexpected but memorable occasion for music lovers- a scene that has repeated many times since the band released its self-titled debut in 1997.

Presently, the Austin-based band is just releasing their 4th CD, “September Songs” on drummer Barry Simon’s Aardvark label. “September Songs” finds Blue Cartoon in a state of transition, stepping away from the Technicolor power-pop of their previous releases, “The Wonder Of It All” (2002) and “Downtown Shangri-La” (1999), for a more folk-rock based approach that fuses various elements of the California Pop sounds that guitarists and songwriters Jeff Tracy and Lee Elliott absorbed as natives of the Golden State: “We were lucky to be around in a time and place where the convergence of rock, folk and sophisticated harmony was at full bloom. That sound was coming from artists as big as The Eagles and as obscure as Judee Sill. I guess today they call it the Laurel Canyon sound, but it was all over California when we were growing up. For the new album, we wanted to kind of look back on where we came from and emphasize more of that approach”, says Lee.

Lead singer David Loren adds his own California-by-way-of-Detroit flavor to the songwriting mix while also being the anchor point for the band’s rich vocals. Previous CD reviews have compared Blue Cartoon’s vocals to CSN&Y, The Byrds and Teenage Fanclub. In 2004, Alan Vassberg (also of The Psychic Cowboys) joined on bass and vocals.

With the release of “September Songs” on 11/21/2006, Blue Cartoon will be playing acoustic and electric sets…and hopefully creating more of those unexpected and memorable moments for music lovers.