No Eye Contact
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No Eye Contact

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"Second Stage: No Eye Contact"

Second Stage: No Eye Contact

by Robin Hilton

You and Me and Other Fables, the full-length debut from the Brooklyn-based band No Eye Contact, opens with a stunning and utterly surprising bit of Appalachian shape note singing. It's a stirring kick-off for an album filled with gothic folk and gospel-flavored rock songs.

A record like this could be easily predictable -- add some strummed acoustics with a squeeze box and gentle melodies. But No Eye Contact keeps the mix from sounding too familiar with wonderfully off-kilter percussion, propulsive guitars, found sounds and rousing singalongs.

No Eye Contact started off as a solo project for frontman Raky Sastri in 2004. It's since grown to a quintet. This is actually the first two cuts off the album, since they run together so beautifully: "Sing Children Sing," followed by "Magnificat." - by Robin Hilton of NPR


"Fresh Baked in NYC No Eye Contact / You And Me And Other Fables"

May 14, 2009
No Eye Contact | You And Me And Other Fables

FRESH BAKED
in NYC
No Eye Contact
You And Me And Other Fables
2009 | Unsigned
A-

NEC | You And Me And Other FablesYou would never know from listening to You And Me And Other Fables that No Eye Contact started as Raky Sastri’s personal recording project. He invites you into the album with “Sing Children Sing” – an ardent exercise in Appalachian throat singing – poising you to revel in the next half hour of lo-fi joy and togetherness.

The album moves seamlessly between a sunny, driving Graham Smith and a disheartened, life-worn Neutral Milk Hotel. Thanks to some clever instrumentation (singing saw, glockenspiel, celestaphone) and barely-discernable female harmonies, the record stands on its own. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for these guys, Animal Collective already perfected the droning soundscape – and, thus, even though they do it pretty well themselves, No Eye Contact’s most successful songs are those more heavily laden with lyrics, melody, and experimentally timbred vocals.

Take “Forking Roads,” for example. The organ’s breathing is mirrored in exhalations of beautiful, wavering harmonies. The song is replete with folk mantras like “o foreign shores and mountains unexplored, bother me no more” that could send Neil Young back to Canada. Perhaps paradoxically, it is these sparser, instrumental pieces that really allow No Eye Contact’s sound to flourish – and somehow manage to pay homage to Appalachian, Irish, and Bluegrass music all at once.

My personal favorites on the album are “Rainbows,” “You And Me,” and “Magnificat,” all of which serve as uplifting platforms for soaring, poetic lyrics, impossibly syncopated guitars and mandolins, and sweetly resounding chime and organ solos. Sastri delivers insight with surprising brevity, by glossing over rather than harping on such cheeky rhymes as, “soon we’re claiming ownership and sharpening our knives, I cut you all up into pieces and decide which ones I like.” He definitely understands that, if you’re in the market for a hoedown, you can’t get carried away in sentiment. That’s ultimately what I like about the album – its short-and-sweet, cut-to-the-chase lack of pretension, and its danceable heartbeat.

No Eye Contact will be releasing their new album on June 20th at Cameo Gallery in Williamsburg. Save the date and stay tuned for more show details!

- Jezebel Music by Drew Citron


"Spin's 25 Must-Hear Artists from the CMJ Festival"

25 Must-Hear Artists from the CMJ Festival

NO EYE CONTACT

Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Sounds like: Not-overly-freaky folk, with a penchant for offbeat instrumentation and sweet harmonies.
Recommended if you like: Devendra Banhart, Bon Iver
You should know: Now a trio, the project was originally the brainchild of Raky Sastri. - Spin Magazine


Discography

Cartoon Hearts EP
You And Me And Other Fables LP
sites where we have tunes streaming
NPR:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2009/07/second_stage_no_eye_contact_1.html

Spin Magazine:
http://spin.com/gallery/25-must-hear-artists-cmj-festival?page=18main

Myspace
www.myspace.com/noeyecontact

Photos

Bio

No Eye Contact was born as the private recording project of Massachusetts native Raky Sastri. After moving to New York ten winters ago and gigging as a drummer in several bands, he started recording songs under the moniker in 2004. Over the next few years, he quietly distributed CD-R’s to friends and family and played a handful of live shows accompanied by a rotating cast of musically-minded companions.

Longtime friend and creative ally Josh Arnoudse came aboard in June 2008 and one year later, after many months of writing and recording in bedrooms, basements, and kitchens, the group’s full-length debut, You and Me and Other Fables, was complete. With the addition of banjo player and all-around talent Gideon Irving in May 2009, the band began in earnest to take its idiosyncratic, stubbornly melodic tunes out into the world.

Architects of a unique sound they have dubbed “Garage Folk”, the members of No Eye Contact draw upon a diverse range of traditional and contemporary musical influences, from Sacred Harp singing and West African kora tunes to Bob Dylan and Neutral Milk Hotel. The band juggles an array of instruments and vocal parts in its live show, weaving Sastri's world-weary lyrics around sweet melodies, forceful harmonies and unorthodox arrangements.

In an “All Songs Considered” review of You and Me and Other Fables, NPR’s Robin Hilton described opening track “Sing Children Sing” as “stunning and utterly surprising,” and went on to praise the album’s “wonderfully off-kilter percussion, propulsive guitars, found sounds and rousing singalongs.” JezebelMusic.com proclaimed the CD “lo-fi joy," Spin Magazine named the band one of the “25 Must-See Artists of CMJ 2009,” and in December a reader poll selected the group as the Deli Magazine’s NYC Artist of the Month.