Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Long, broad strokes of color like fingerpainting sounds across soft silent canvases, Heroes In the Seaweed smears thick, resonant guitar textures across shuffley laid back drums. Streching from before the song starts and ringing long after the songs finishes, these tracks stir up something unsettled, something needing clarity, circling and centering on those little nuances that make life what it is. You can call it dream folk where the dreary and melancholy become the most beautiful sounds you can imagine. - cdbaby.com
On this debut, NYC-based Heroes in the Seaweed perform gorgeously sublime alt-pop. Focusing on acoustic instrumentation, the band, headed by Ryan Montgomery and Brett Welch, delivers on every front: haunting melodies, evocative moods and sharp lyrics come together with superb results.
The songs are mostly mellow, slow-working affairs. Opener "Balloon Song" is appropriately buoyed by cello and haunting guitar notes, factors that push the song into the upper atmosphere before disappearing, leaving you soaring with only the straining vocals for company. Similar moments of perfection dot the remaining four tracks; like the best magicians' illusions, they seem effortless and get you right in the heart every single time. Well-crafted lyrics complement the confident, graceful music. Despite its cumbersome title, "If I Were a Poet, I'd Make Your Every Movement Mean Something" features deft wordplay, such as, "She pours through the doorway / a muddled mass of morning glory / her clothing clouds, billows." The imagery will linger as long as the melodies behind it.
Acoustic, vocal-driven alt-pop demands a precise amount of artistic pretension to succeed. In the hands of less-gifted songwriters, the results are cloying and ham-fisted, but Heroes in the Seaweed have mastered the requisite magics. Warmth in Your Distance will remind you why you spend so much time hunting through the dirt for that one perfect album.
-- Ron Davies - splendidmagazine.com
Discography
Warmth in your Distance EP
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Heroes in the Seaweed
A story of strangers and estranged friends coming together...
Ryan Montgomery and Brett Welch met purely by chance, at a party in the Clinton Hill region of Brooklyn. After talking over a few too many drinks, Ryan, a former film student at Pratt Institute, decided to recruit Brett, a former creative writing major at The New School, to assist with the copy writing responsibilities involved in The Brooklyn Underground Film Festival, the offices of which were to be the first venue for the duo's early songwriting sessions.
After a few months of casual plucking, strumming, and caterwauling, the two began to take a serious interest in what they were doing, and decided to recruit other musicians to add some textural depth to the raw combination of acoustic guitar and acoustic bass.
Shortly before Christmas, 2003, Brett was at a local dive bar near his hometown of Oakdale, New York, when he happened upon an old high school friend, Joseph Demers, whom he'd lost touch with over the years. The two Long Island natives-turned Brooklyn residents played catch-up and recalled the jam sessions of their younger days. Joe, who, at the time, played in a hard rock band that was on the brink of disintegration, had grown tired of power chords and loud distortion, and wanted to start a project more in tune with his mellow emotional state. Brett jumped at the opportunity and invited him to take part in a writing session. The duo became a trio, but did not remain that way for long. Shortly after that session, Joe invited David Teufel, a good friend and classically trained cellist to play, and together, the foursome composed a percussion-less set of songs that were subsequently featured at two small Brooklyn venues.
When the absence of drums became too glaring to remain unaddressed, the quartet began auditioning percussionists. Many of the invitees, though skilled, were not interested in playing along to subtle, quiet music, and it was soon realized that part of what gave life to the band's chemistry was the long history and personal connections between its members. So, though he felt it was a long shot, Brett contacted another old high school friend, Robert Galgano, of the Long Island electronica outfit, NCC. After his surprisingly smooth integration into the band dynamic, the five-piece felt they were ready to move into the studio.
Signing to the fledgling record label of another of Joe's college friends, and former bandmates, Nate Donlon, in the fall of 2004 the band produced their first studio effort, "warmth in your distance." It was recorded and mixed at Fallout Shelter Studios with Pete Min - renown for his engineering work with Long Wave, Orange Park, the Blue Sparks and Sea Ray, among countless others.
Since 2004, Heroes in the Seaweed have become a New York City staple, frequenting world class venues including Mercury Lounge, Luna Lounge, Plaid and Southpaw. Their debut EP "warmth in your distance," and additional information about the band is available at www.heroesintheseaweed.com and www.bluemonstermusic.com.
Links
