the Photographic

If two young men from the Midwest are capable of making such music of heroic, earth shattering proportions then what does that mean for the rest of the instrumental scene? Go ahead roll your eyes.

The Photographic is composed of Jamey See Tai and Chad Blevins. For seven months the two worked on songs and practiced constantly before taking their skills to the live stage. This is where Jamey’s brother Jesse comes into the mix. Rumor has it, that the Photographic’s live show is nothing short of a life-changing event, as Jamey’s brother, Jesse, seamlessly intertwines harmony with imagery and the band transforms themselves from just another band into something much bigger on stage.

There is so much hope and power in this album. You can hear it in the way the toms dance with the kick drum towards the last cycle of Secure - what a song, it makes you want to move, to feel alive and unlike most instrumental music, it moves! Pictures of a Changing World has it’s moments of dream-state euphoria but I’m pretty sure the Photographic don’t want to waste anyone’s time in drawing out these blissful landscapes they have created for each one of their listeners - by-the-way, you better hope you are one of them.

Think a more rambunctious Karate - minus Geoff’s vocals and a little more Christie Front Drive and Minus the Bear thrown in for good measure and you might be on the right path. The production and recording is definitely headphone worthy and is some of the best ear candy these old hearing apparati have heard in a while. The guitar line in Lost In Daydream feels like something out of a picture book while the synths stray me away into the realms of Sigur Ros. But no matter what, the Photographic remain unique unto themselves. There is something special here, in this recording, once you hear it you will know what I mean. This something special doesn’t happen to often so get this album, hit the repeat button and just veg out. Last year my favorite instrumental album was from a band also from the Midwest called La Brea, I don’t think they got much recognition for their album so don’t let the same thing happen to the Photographic. Let these two masters of post-depression instrumental rock show you new landscapes created just for you, and me. - Indie Rock Reviews

Many bands nowadays just go and dramatically enter their CD with a punchy and bombastic track. The Photographic do not do that with their “Pictures of a Changing World”. Rather, during their “Inception”, they create a very atmospheric track that singlehandedly sets the tone for the rest of the album. Thus, it is no surprise that “Millie Rode to Heaven on the Back of an Orca” draws heavily from “Inception”. While the two tracks are very similar in regards to the general style of music that The Photographic play, a closer inspection is that they dramatically change up the specific sound from track to track. What is most interesting about “Millie Rode to Heaven” is the fact that they are able to accurately create the sounds emitted by an Orca through their own instruments.

They finally kick into a dramatically different style in the mid-point of “Millie”, but do not enter into vocal-led music at any time during the track. The intensity of the band gradually increases to explain well their dramatic turn into a hard-hitting, emotionally-intense type of band. The Photographic are talented enough to keep individuals interested throughout their longest tracks (which they have stacked at the beginning of the album), so by the time they are going forth and cutting two and a half minute long tracks (“Lost in a Daydream” and “Bridge Runs”), individuals have already been inculcated with the style of The Photographic. The band reaches an entirely new plateau with “Directions”, a track that calls forth the spirit of “Disintegration”-era Cure. Rather than just working off of that style, The Photographic are able to keep the composition current and put a little bit of The Polyphonic Spree and Coldplay into the mix. “Pictures of a Changing World” is perhaps the best instrumental albums since Ampline cut their first work about a half decade ago.

It is hard to keep individuals interested in a vocal-less album, but that is exactly what The Photographic do here. The disc’s hour length lends itself well to continued listening. I am excited to hear where the band will go on subsequent albums, and how they have evolved in the two plus years of time that will elapse between “Pictures of a Changing World” and their new album. Pick it up wherever you can (even if it is from Galaxia directly). - Neufutur Magazine

One of the music projects I am most excited about in 2008 is an instrumental duo from Kentucky. The Photographic are guitarist Jamey See Tai and drummer Chad Blevins. The duo use their own instrumentation, some synth effects and looping to create a sonic presence that rivals that of hugely talented instrumentalists Explosions in the Sky.

Galaxia Records will release a remarkable album on March 11th called, "Pictures of a Changing World" - an album that has become a driving soundtrack in my car and in my life the last few weeks.

It's really hard to imagine a listener not enjoying these songs. The Photographic gently assault your senses; knocking down walls that close your mind.

I'm a visual and auditory person (shock & surprise) - but even I was amazed at the pictures and images I created and imagined listening to this music. My mind wrote movie scripts, my eyes were illuminated from the inside. That's good stuff.
- Ryan's Smashing Life

The Photographic consist of only two - guitarist Jamey See Tai and drummer Chad Blevins. If you fancy the melodic instrumental groups, need I mention the overly referenced Explosions in the Sky, you will throroughly enjoy The Photographic. However, these Louisians do not simply sound like EITS, but resound only more like their later albums, particularly their work on the Friday Night Lights Soundtrack. Their delicate guitar work and moving rhythms separate themselves from the rest of the field.

Where Explosions in the Sky demostrated their harder material in their beginnings and then moved to quieter ambiences, The Photographic, differs in that they separated the fat from the meat right from the start on their spectacular first album, Pictures of a Changing World. Their looping and layering techniques are what makes the duo capable of delivering a massive sound with only the talents of two at hand. What I'm getting at is they're just plain great.

I highly recommend listening to these guys if you took interest in our post about This Will Destroy You earlier this year. The Photographic's debut album, Pictures of a Changing World was released on March 11th and is available for download on iTunes. - Music Under Fire

I have something really special to share to start off the week today, new music from a new band called The Photographic, who have actually been making music since 2003 but are just getting ready to release their debut album. The duo are practically locals as well, being located just south of us in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Photographic make instrumental rock, and as a listener that has slowly grown in my appreciation of instrumental music in general, these guys got me hooked pretty fast. They are certainly for anyone who has ever fallen for Explosions In The Sky, as I feel at times like I am listening to a companion piece from an Explosions album. It is also easy to at times feel the upbeat energy of a Minus The Bear tune as well, as in the mp3 below, Secure. So take some time to dig into these guys and please let me know what you think.
The debut disc from the Louisville duo is due out March 11th from Galaxia Records and is highly recommended. - Each Note Secure

The Photographic turns sound into pictures, evoking a deep range of emotion while never going near a lyric. Instrumental music has rarely been so fraught with meaning.

Even more remarkable is how it's all accomplished through only guitar and drums. Louisville's Jamey See Tai (guitars) and Chad Blevins (drums) weave dozens of textures, and what they don't get around to is handled by Jesse See Tai, who creates the video projections used by the band in concert. - The Courier Journal

Instrumental rock can be tough to write about. Once you've said that a disc is "atmospheric, fiery and evocative," or some such combination of adjectives, where do you go from there? I'm not really sure, but the accomplished Louisville twosome who call themselves The Photographic (Jamey See Tai on guitars, bass and keyboards, and Chad Blevins on drums/percussion) have made a terrific instrumental recording called Pictures of a Changing World. And, uh, it's "atmospheric, fiery and evocative."

Fill in your own adjectives, of course, but this is outstanding driving music, featuring both propulsive, dynamic energy and a gripping melancholy undercurrent—the twin components of any long drive for some of us. Highlights include the luminous, purposeful opener "Inception," the guitar-mospheric "Secure" (in which the tonal colors of the guitar are nicely complemented by robust percussion) and the aptly named "Lost in a Daydream," a short piece which offers a shimmering sound that evokes walking among fragile glass figurines whose deep colors keep reflecting the ambient light in a dazzling manner.

Make no mistake, though—this is rock music, with Blevins' drumming on "Bridge Runs," "Glass Saviour" and a few other tracks nailing a John Bonham-like intensity. And yet, "We Were Fed Poisoned Bread," in its sparse brand of moodiness, could almost be a Sigur Ros outtake. A consistent mood somehow emerges from what these two talented musicians conjure here, while the well-conceived sense of dynamics keeps you interested. I truly admire musicians that can make engaging instrumental rock without being boring, and if this disc isn't particularly groundbreaking, it sure is just about perfect for an afternoon's drive running errands, passing by various pictures of a changing world as you go... - Playback:stl

One of my most anticipated albums is set for release within the next week. Louisville’s The Photographic releases Pictures of a Changing World on March 11th. Having seen them live earlier this year at the Home Grown Series and hearing a few individual tracks online, I’ve been excited to see how the album would come together. I was not disappointed. This is an album that is meant to be heard in its entirety. Individually, the tracks are beautiful ambient/progressive sonic waves. Together, this album is an epic introspective exploration, evoking imagery of being lost & the encounters you might have had, as each track seems to be an evolution of the one before it. You feel a connection with the characters in the story being unfolded before you. So much emotion is carried through so few instruments, and this album leaves you with two feelings…first, you wonder what happens next…second, feeling that anything is possible. The amazing part is that it is only two people creating this incredible sound, using layers upon layers of looped guitars, synths & the subtle, but driving drums. The Photographic is Jamey See Tai on guitar, Chad Blevins on drums & Jesse See Tai on visual effects. Knowing this helps you feel the importance of what they’re doing on Pictures of a Changing World.

The album begins, appropriately, with Inception, which is a beautiful song that calls to mind that feeling when you’re waking up in the morning. Also, the track had hints of Radiohead’s “Everything in its Right Place”. The next one Millie Rode to Heaven on the Back of an Orca could be a day in the aforementioned epic journey unto itself, starting off very soft but eventually erupting into the powerful and upbeat kind of track that makes you drive too fast, and then coming back down as the song’s protagonist lays down to rest.

Directions & Secure are very pop tracks, but retain the introspective quality that makes the album as beautiful as it is. In contrast, We Were Fed Poisoned Bread is as dark of a track as its title implies, climaxing violently. Night Noise is a unique track that is a little more like an indie rock track than the rest of the album, which made it an interesting choice to have been the album selected for inclusion in The Present. The album concludes with what in my opinion is the most impressive track on the album, a Contrivance. This one is a nice middle between some of the more melodic and ambient tracks of the earlier part of the album and the rock of Night Noise.

To write words about an album like this is, in the end, futile. This is an album that tells a different story to every person who listens to it, but it’s an album that everyone can fall in love with and the kind of album you want to fall in love to. To see Jesse put visuals to the performance makes the performance itself beautiful, but my only problem with it is that it starts to tell the listener what to think about while listening to these guys perform, which in some respect takes away from the beauty of what they are making. That said, I wouldn’t change it for the world. I am simply amazed by the fact that kids I see out any random night at the Nachbar can produce this kind of sound. I am incredibly excited to see where the Photographic goes from here, and I’m anticipating that a lot of people will be taking notice very soon. - Backseat Sandbar

It's taken this instrumental Louisville duo five years to release their debut, but it's easy to see why: There are so many intricate movements in these songs that each one could have easily taken six months to compose and record. Surprising, then, that every track follows the same formula. Guitarist Jamey See Tai lays down a laconic guitar line, loops it, then adds and subtracts layer after layer of riffs until he's created a vast soundscape with peaks and valleys that flow into each other like the Andean ridgeline or Patagonian surf. The vamped strings build and crash over Chad Blevins' jagged drumbeats until the next song spills in from the great beyond. It's an experience as cinematic as it is sonorous, which is why both the band and album names seem so apt. But most striking is that The Photographic seem to have accomplished, in the most subtle of ways, what contemporaries like Explosions in the Sky and Do Make Say Think have not -- they've bridged the rift between old form and new.
-Alex Littlefield- - PAPER magazine