Great American Canyon Band
Nashville, Tennessee, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2012 | INDIE
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Next: The Great American Canyon Band
The Great American Canyon Band is a Baltimore indie-folk act featuring husband-and-wife duo Paul and Krystal Jean Masson. The pair's first single, "Tumbleweed," is a lovely, dreamy piece of countrified rock, destined for road trips. The rest of the self-titled EP came out in May, and an additional track, "Young Lady," was released on Sept. 5; it's available for download here.
The duo's harmony-rich sound is alternately mellow, sad, wistful, romantic and sweeping. The Great American Canyon Band has been compared to The Duchess & The Duke and Lost in the Trees. WXPN's The Key describes the pair's EP as "a gorgeous collection of hypnotic songs that draws on [a] heady mix of dream pop, acousticana and psychedelia." - David Dye
Baltimore's Great American Canyon Band is an indie-folk duo whose members, Paul and Krystal Jean Masson, are partners in both life and sound. Since 2011, when they first began creating music together, the transient troubadours have roamed around the country, living in a Holiday Inn in Athens, Georgia, Paul's grandmother's old house in Chicago, and West Hollywood. As Paul and Krystal moved through the broad expanse of the United States, the country began to seep into their world-weary, wide open, acoustic, cinematic songs, with artists like Hank Williams, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons and the 1970s' Laurel Canyon singer-songwriters, including Neil Young, revealing themselves as inspirations.
The duo has returned to Baltimore and recently released the EP Crash, a five-song collection blending dream-pop, acoustic Americana and psychedelia. (A full-length debut album, Only You Remain, is forthcoming shortly.) That is the vibe that comes to the fore on the title track, "Crash," which showcases a floating kind of folk-pop, drifting on gentle harmonies, lots of open space, simple seductive chords and celestial guitar fills.
In the song's black and white video, Paul and Krystal are shown in a close up, singing longingly to each other, fingers entwined, lips close together. The introductory, down-tempo drumbeat brings to mind "Reel Around The Fountain" by The Smiths, and the slow-core pleading drone of the song builds to a point that gives way to catharsis. They're a couple lost in each other's love, searching, only to find solace.
Only You Remain is out on April 8 on Six Degrees. - Bruce Warren
Collaborators both personally and professionally, the husband-and-wife duo of Paul (vocals, guitar) and Kris Masson (vocals, bass) form the core of the luminously poppy Great American Canyon Band, which just released its first full-length album, Only You Remain, whose 10 songs match a sometimes spectral/sometimes sweeping sound to heartfelt, yet understated, sentiments of love and devotion. “Sonically we try to push the sound and have it be as expansive as possible,” says Kris, who co-writes the band’s material with Paul. “But within that sonic territory lies just the two of us.” With Only You Remain, the couple, who admit only to being in their 30s, refine and distill the gorgeous ache they created on 2015’s Crash EP and a 2012 seven-inch: shimmering guitars, simmering country-folk-psychedelia, haunted/haunting production and seamlessly sympathetic vocals. (Guitarist Matt Boyer and drummer Edan Perrigo round out the band.) “We communicate through songwriting. It’s how we’ve always connected,” notes Kris. “It’s a beautiful space where you connect to yourself, and give yourself over freely and completely to whatever evolves. Our songwriting is as intimate as the relationship we share.” - Style Magazine
The Civil Wars for years epitomized the potential of the dual-harmony approach of indie folk and Americana. When they announced they were breaking up in 2014, the music world has been searching long and hard for another group who would replicate their beauty. While there are no shortage of female-male harmonic bands, these acts feel clichéd, often using the dual vocals during playful exchanges or just for the sake of it. What The Civil Wars mastered was turning the duality into a singularity, where the two vocals would merge into one stunning voice.
The search for the next duo to take the reins may have come to an end with the arrival of Great American Canyon Band. The brainchild of married partners Kris and Paul Masson, Great American Canyon Band’s debut album, Only You Remain, shares the breathtaking grace of The Civil Wars’ Barton Hollow. The ten tracks are warm and intimate with the duo singing immaculate songs about love, hope, and the days to come, and we’re welcomed into the Masson’s living with the elegantly euphoric “Only You Remain”, which opens the album and is highlighted by the booming “aahs”, where Paul Masson seems to channel his inner Jim James. The Jim James-vocals are replicated a couple of songs later on the hopeful and uplifting “Come Home”. Sandwiched between these two songs is “Crash”, the album’s lead single and the song which had people starting to talk about the band. The tune drips with a dreamy steel guitar that provides the perfect bridge between the Massons’ lush vocals and the delicate rhythms.
With “Never Fade Away“, Great American Canyon Band tackle contemporary Americana, and it will appeal to fans of The Lumineers. While this song may not be the most creative on the album, GACB make amends with the dazzling “Undertow”, a song that blends dream-folk with some cosmic shoegaze. “Chances”, similarly, shimmers with a gorgeous crystalline guitar, which provides the frame around the Massons’ stunning harmonies.
The slower, more intimate tunes, however, is where GACB truly shine through. “Broken Glass” is gorgeous, Kris Mason assumes the sole lead on the vocals. Her voice shines in the song’s climatic ending, resonating with the pain of a person whose heart has been broken. Paul gets his opportunity to shine solo on the whispery, bedroom-style “We Are Lovers”. The song verges on being an ’80s power ballad, but the band reins in the power chords to allow Paul’s vocals, which take on a Don Henley vibe, to shine through. The album’s finale, “I Lose You”, is absolutely breathtaking, possessing the same, quiet magnetism of Mazzy Starr. It’s the perfect ending to a dazzling debut, helping us remember that indie folk and Americana can still be mesmerizing without feeling clichéd.
Only You Remain is out now. Purchase it on Bandcamp, iTunes (US | CAN), and Amazon (US | CAN | UK). Hear the album in its entirety as well on SoundCloud. - Ben Yung
This week, Modern Vinyl recommends “Only You Remain,” the stunning debut from Baltimore’s Great American Canyon Band.
Maybe I’m just still on a War on Drugs’ Lost In The Dream kick and that slice of pie — harmonious blending of alternative rock, shoegaze and boozy folk — makes Great American Canyon Band’s debut LP to my liking. Only You Remain exquisitely taps into the mindset of driving along long, country roads, musically as cinematic and wide as the open air and lyrically introspective as the sole wanderer you are that ponders on this big rock we call Earth.
The Baltimore-based duo, consisting of husband-and-wife team Kris and Paul Masson, state that their influences include Neil Young, Gram Parsons and Mazzy Star, artists who have graced music with an outstanding alternative voice — a different vantage point to rock music and particularly the stalwarts of folk music. The influences may wear themselves a little too closely on GACB’s debut, but the music ably stands on its own, embracing a lush and kaleidoscopic sprawl that appears as the indie folk equivalent of their fellow dream pop natives Beach House.
Great American Canyon Band Only You Remain
Tracks like “Crash, “I Lose Me” and the title track wholly exemplify Only You Remain‘s slow-burn quality, with moments of explosive energy like on “Come Home” and “Never Fade Away” and quieter times like on “Broken Glass” and “Rise” that make the album drift in and out of consciousness, creating this tunnel-like vision of music that breathes in and out the more you listen and the longer you listen to it.
The album is set for release on Friday, April 8th, though you could pick up the record on vinyl from their Bandcamp store right now. Having taken a listen to the LP itself, the music is deserving of the warmth and expansive audio that vinyl provides, and the pressing is pretty solid. It’s worth taking a listen to the record and then deciding for yourself whether or not you want to purchase physical copies, but if their debut impresses you like it has for me, then I would fully support the duo so that they can make the potential breakout record that could be LP2. - David Fisch
In February, we heard “Tumbleweed,” the new single from Chicago-based husband-and-wife duo Paul and Krystal Jean Masson, a pretty, dusty country rock track. Now, we’ve got that single’s B-side, “Burn,” a like-minded midtempo ode featuring some nice harmonies. Download it below. - Stereogum
The Great American Canyon Band is built around the married duo of Paul and Krystal Jean Masson. Their new single “Tumbleweed,” the first thing we’ve heard from a forthcoming single, is a gorgeous piece of desert-blasted country-rock that seems custom-built for road trips. Download the single below. - Stereogum
The Great American Canyon Band just released a four-track EP called Lost At Sea and here is the woodsy video for its title track. The Baltimore band is gearing up to play shows with recent BTW-ers Pure Bathing Culture and are their perfect foil — where PBC make ethereal indie pop that sounds like it comes from the ocean while Canyon’s feels like it’s truly living off the land. Check out the Matthew Riggieri-directed video, which features a girl’s race to find home and the birds that guide her there, and tour dates below. - Stereogum
The bliss-folk dream-pop duo The Great American Canyon Band have returned with a gorgeous new song and video for “Young Lady” that was made by using stock footage from Nasa’s Prelinger Archives. The husband and wife team, Paul and Krystal Jean Masson, are playing Johnny Brenda’s on Saturday, October 20th with Philly’s Oldermost and Mock Suns and the Wisconsin band Fenster. Go here for tickets and more information about the show. This past June, TGACB released an EP that you can listen to/download below. Their celestial, swirling psychedelia is dazzlingly showcased on this new song and video, “Young Lady.” - WXPN
The Great American Canyon Band is based around the powerful songwriting and harmonies of husband and wife team Paul and Krystal Jean Masson. Tumbleweed, which was first sung by Krystal Jean to Paul on their wedding anniversary, is the lead single from the to-be-released debut album. Self-recorded in a gutted out house in Chicago with no running water and just two old guitars they created a sound that is intimate, honest, and unique. New EP now available on iTunes. - NBC Nightly News
Discography
Crash EP - Released October 16, 2015 on Six Degrees Records
1) Lost At Sea
2) Tumbleweed
3) Crash
4) Wild Heart
5) Young Lady
Lost At Sea - EP - Self Released April 2, 2013
1) Lost At Sea
2) Tumbleweed
3) Lay My Body Down
4) Wild Heart
Only You Remain - LP - Released On Six Degrees Records April 8, 2016
1) Only You Remain
2) Crash
3) Come Home
4) Broken Glass
5) Never Fade Away
6) Undertow
7) Chances
8) Rise
9) We Are Lovers
10) I Lose Me
Photos
Bio
Paul and Kris Masson have always known one another. In their early lives, when they felt unfamiliar to themselves, it was the idea of the other that led them forward. And on the night they finally encountered each other, it only took one look. There were no reasons needed, they just obliged what had already been in motion. In the first years of their relationship they traveled the country in an old ‘82 Mercedes they affectionately named Dolly. Drifting aimlessly but steadfast, they were searching for a place that felt as unifying as the home they felt in one another. They found refuge on the West Coast, in a small bungalow hidden deep in the hills of West Hollywood. When they would feel the restlessness of LA creeping in, they would drive out to the desert and lose themselves. Their wandering often lead them to the Salton Sea, its stillness a memory that had always existed within them. It was next to its boundlessness that Kris first whispered the melody for the song “Tumbleweed”. It was a quiet reflection, an unintentional act of expression that would eventually define Great American Canyon Band’s early works; two souls interweaved and coming to terms with the vastness of the world surrounding them.
These early songs wouldn’t take shape until the winter of 2011 when Paul and Kris settled into a weather-beaten home on the outskirts of Chicago. With not much more than a few old guitars and an aging laptop, they began creating with sonic clarity the fullness and richness of their experiences. The music was dynamic and affecting. It payed homage to the transformative production qualities of Phil Spector and Brian Eno, but remained unique in it’s voice. And by the start of Spring 2012, they had completed their first EP.
It’s reverb rich pleading harmonies, emotive shoegaze guitars, and tapestries of ambience sounded entirely new, yet seemingly timeless. Critical response to the EP was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. NPR praised the band’s “harmony-rich sound,” attesting to it’s impact as “alternately mellow, sad, wistful, romantic and sweeping.” The language spoke to Great American Canyon Band’s intent – to create music that is undoubtedly reaching towards whatever lies ahead. As momentum was building behind the release of the EP, Kris and Paul were called back to their hometown of Baltimore. The band was put on pause as they came to terms with the personal loss of loved ones succumbing to illness and the inevitable toll of saying goodbye. Kris says of the time “We were watching the most influential people in our lives become human in the most brutal ways. In the end though we had to embrace the circumstances.”
The result was their debut LP ‘Only You Remain’ released on Six Degrees Records on April 8th 2016. The title track, “Only You Remain,” brims with declaration; it’s instrumentation thunderous as Paul and Kris decree that time, in all it’s selfishness “will never break us apart!” It is a concise first statement by a band now fully formed and devoted to their craft. The sonic landscapes are wider, their musical voice stronger and the LP’s breath clearer over the ten tracks. They’ve become one voice, able to incite as much strength and celebration with their whispers as their most impassioned throes.
Only You Remain, like their previous works, is theirs through and through; written, recorded and produced at home by Paul & Kris in a small space built off the back of their house. The album organically garnered millions of streams and Spotify editorial placements, as well as critical acclaim. Throughout 2016 and 2017, the band supported the record, touring the country and performing at festivals such as Noisepop and SXSW, while receiving airplay on notable radio stations, such as WXPN, KCRW and WNYC.
After two years of supporting the record, they moved to Nashville and went deep into their writing process. Over the course of 2019, the record continued to take shape with Matt Boyer moving to Nashville to be a full-time member of the band. Then in March of 2020, the world shut down. In relative isolation, and knowing the record needed to be fully experienced live, they used this time to continue to explore and realize, without limitation, the record still writing itself inside them.
In the summer of 2022, the band entered Sputnik Sound Studio and began mixing the first single from their forthcoming Sophomore record with Grammy award winning Producer/Mix Engineer Vance Powell. The moment you hear Matt's soaring guitar and the thunderous drum entrance on the single "Fade Away" you are taken a-flight by what the band has created and is now uniquely capable of. Their new music was recorded inside of an unprecedented moment and yet creates an intense sense of time and place that feels declarative and triumphant.
Band Members
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