the prayers and tears of arthur digby sellers
Gig Seeker Pro

the prayers and tears of arthur digby sellers

Band Folk Rock

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


""...it's hard not to imagine that Wright is the sort of restrained, concise singer that [Conor] Oberst might one day grow into.""

"The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers is frequently compared to Bright Eyes, which is understandable. Besides the indie-folk bent and ostentatious titles, the primary affinity is logistical-- both groups are actually solo singer/songwriters supported by a revolving cast of musician friends. Succinctly put, Conor Oberst is to Bright Eyes as Perry White [sic] is to Prayers and Tears.

Like Pedro the Lion or Sufjan Stevens, White's [sic] music has a solemn, prayerful aura and an oblique religious bent. On Mother of Love, he's surrounded himself with friends from bands like Sixpence None the Richer, the Polyphonic Spree, and Ester Drang to flesh out his meticulously sculpted ephemera, a haunting synthesis of folk, rock, country, and electro.

"Concerning Lessons Learned from the Aliens" shuffles through various permutations of drifting acoustic arpeggios and chimes, ballasted by an elementary chord progression and a vocal turn reminiscent of Grandaddy's simplistic, easygoing sonority and Oberst's sustained metaphorical thrust sans melodrama or self-pity. White's [sic] skillful arrangements are a large part of the record's appeal, and here the various melodic snippets come together with a winsome string section for muted closing climax. By the time the husky, intense inflections and folk-rock exclamations of "Cannot Eat Better Not Sleep" roll around, it's hard not to imagine that Wright is the sort of restrained, concise singer that Oberst might one day grow into.

Wright wrings a lot of mileage out of songs that move in incremental dynamic shifts between whispery bedroom music and crashing electro-rock pile drivers-- the mordant hush and theatrical stomp of "The Eventual Intimate of So Much Nostalgia (Hutchinson Effect)", the distended piano and dark dirge of "Above the Waves (Pluripotency)", and the languid, demented choral inflections of "The Slow Decay of Some Radio Afterglows" all adhere to this template. Others don't: "Rotation of Crops" and "Archaeopteryx" are laden with staticky, off-kilter beats and ominous drones. "Ammunition for a Bolt-Action Heart" is driven by sharp pokes of bass and sleek rhythm guitars punctured by drum machine salvos; the pronounced loud/soft dynamic and direct lyrics mark it as the album's only unabashed rocker.

The record revolves around the theme of lost love, but White sets up a series of imbricate, evocative images that submerge us in the feelings while sparing us the pathos. Every time I say I never want to hear another concept record about somebody's failed marriage, one comes along that's lovely enough to make me to eat crow. But I swear to God, this is the last one. Now will someone pass me a steak knife? This crow is fucking tough."

7.5/10 - Pitchfork Media


""Cynthia offers a glimpse at the assorted and burrowed tunnels of a complicated mind, an absorbent, watchful, keen mind capable of compiling theories, theologies, dialogues, parables and paradoxes and funneling them into four-minute considerations worthy "

"With the release of the Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers' sophomore album, three nascent principles emerge in the Triangle music scene: Perry right is one of its most impressive songwriting talents; producer Alex Lazara is one of its most capable and creative visionaries; and the Bu Hanan records family- hitherto more of a collection of friends making record in Chapel Hill homes- is suddenly an artistic stable worthy of envy. How's that for an auspicious arrival?

With The Mother of Love Emulates the Shapes of Cynthia, Wright and his Bu Hanan partners effectively transform a set of songs for the acoustic guitar and less-than shoestring budget into an ambitiously actualized concept album, probing the collapse of love and the cascade of hearts in a society more about net-worthing than networking.

That's what makes them different. This one is about networking. In a folky, Omaha fashion, Wright taps the resources of those around him, borrowing the gifts of no less than 14 people- including his own sister, the label's publicist and Bellafea's Heather McEntire. It's this artistic symbiosis and dialogue that have, in part, readied Wright for this record.

There's something else at work in Wright's preparation, too- namely, intellect. Cynthia offers a glimpse at the assorted and burrowed tunnels of a complicated mind, an absorbent, watchful, keen mind capable of compiling theories, theologies, dialogues, parables and paradoxes and funneling them into four-minute considerations worthy of thousand-word elaboration. He writes through condensing. Wright's songs are rife with the alluded ideas of philosophers, scientists, musicians, artists, poets, emperors and iconoclasts. He spews them out in meticulous, careful, distended metaphors of alien abductions, telescopes, lunar cycles and marriages arriving at terminus.

Somehow, Wright- under the tempered guidance of Lazara- avoids the typical pitfalls of such analytical poetry with so much to say so emphatically: Whereas his 2002 debut Psalterie exploded into overarching and sometimes overreaching exclamations at the whim of every posed question and answer, Cynthia bides its time, allowing Wright's keen observations to trickle down as beads of exacerbated sweat over the skin of an electro-acoustic canvas painted more for conversation than coercion through crescendo.

That's not to say that this is an even-keel, monotone affair: Instead, moments of intense quiet preside long enough for the perfectly executed catharses to make their point. That quiet mounts incredible tension released in intermittent, incendiary ruptures. The opening exclamation of "The Eventual Intimate of So Much Nostalgia" booms only after a creaking entree. A chilling midstream, three-song suite quiet precedes the climactic, resounding, Pedro The Lion-like redemption, "Raise Up, You Celestial Choirs."

During "Ontothanatological", the last of that rising action, it's almost possible to picture Wright like Rodin's The Thinker, his hand tucked under his chin, every muscle rippling under the catastrophic load mounted by the song's devastation query: "If our ship went down and spilled us out, would you think of me and smile as we drown?" Bold, brilliant and beautiful."

- The Independent Weekly


""It’s only February, but I’ll be bold and say that this will likely be a heavy contender for top 10 albums of 2005.""

"It’s only February, but I’ll be bold and say that this will likely be a heavy contender for top 10 albums of 2005. The Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers is obviously a long-winded moniker for singer/songwriter Perry Wright. And as if the album title, The Mother of Love Emulates the Shapes of Cynthia isn’t long enough, it even has a subtitle (The Study of Nature in the Light of Midday). For such a lengthy band name and album title, I was hoping that the music was substantially epic. Indeed it is. Wright surrounded himself with the likes of Dale Baker (Sixpence None the Richer) and James Mcalister (Ester Drang) among others, to record an epic blend of homemade neo-folk indie-pop. The gentle lo-fi album introduction, “The Eventual Intimate of So Much Nostalgia (Hutchison Effect)”, culminates into a weird hybrid of Control-era Pedro the Lion and Kid A-era Radiohead. The drums are intensely pounding, and the guitars contain a certain “Housewife Lovesong” (SF59) edge. The mood is subdued on the narrative “Concerning Lessons Learned From The Aliens”, a song blaringly inspired from Radiohead’s “Subterranean Homesick Alien”. Wright’s lyrics aren’t concise enough for this song, but the brilliant use of drum loops and sweeping strings make it easy to overlook. The song is un-refusing. “Rotation of Crops” showcases even more elaborate strings. The dynamics are awe-inspiring. Wright is composing songs reminiscent of Sufjan Steven’s most complex work, only in a different context. The industrial loop in “Archaeopteryx” plays like a melancholy dirge, then the keyboard fills emphasize the hushed melody. Wright is the perfect vocalist for these songs, often morphing his voice without effort. He’s a strange blend of Bazan/Yorke/Wiederspahn (Dear Ephesus), and his unique diversity adds to the beauty of this epic recording. The romping pace of “Ammunition For a Bolt Action Heart” develops into an insane frenzy. The music borders on math-rock and ambience for a brief moment before abruptly stopping. “Above the Waves (Pluripotency)” is slowed down like an Energizer bunny that ran out of juice, yet the music broods with minimal ethereal energy. Wright charts the clichéd waters of emo with “Cannot Eat Better Not Sleep”, borrowing equal amounts Dashboard Confessional and Bright Eyes, and somehow still walks away with all his indie cred. The song is brilliant and flawless. Case closed. “The Slow Decay of Some Radio Afterglows” bares stark similarities to Iron & Wine musically, and the vocals have an intimate shakiness and depth to them, like a lost son of David Eugene Edwards (16 Horsepower/Wovenhand). “Disposable Drummers In Disposable Bands” is a great title that has nothing to do with its lyrics, unless I’m missing a band in-joke. Regardless, this song blends alt-country a la Summer Hymns with pop folk of It’s Hard To Find A Friend. The falsetto laden “Ontothanatological” sounds like a transition piece for the final two songs that follow. The anthemic “Raise Up You Celestial Choirs” is the artistic peak of The Mother of Love. Everything I love about this album is wrapped up in this one song. It is absolutely perfect, gorgeous and achingly compelling. And then there’s the final track. “The Sad Lives of the Hollywood Lovers” either purposefully or coincidentally takes its title from Starflyer 59 history. This was the title originally given to The Fashion Focus before it was released. The song is haunting and organic in the vein of a polyester-suited and symphonic VOL. There is so much to say about this band. Perry Wright has created a monster of an album, lush with strings, swirling guitars, electronic bleeps, intimate acoustics and passionate vocals. Even the artwork is beautiful. All in all, this album is paralyzing. For fans of Pedro the Lion, Radiohead, Starflyer 59, Wovenhand, Ester Drang, Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Ros, Castanets. Mixed by Chris Cobert [sic]."

5/5
- The Black and White Magazine


""Wright's emotional honesty and the simple strength of his metaphors keep this record thoroughly grounded, even as it soars heavenward on the strength of its sublime music." (4 Stars)"

Despite the grandiloquent titles of both band and record, The Mother of Love Emulates the Shapes of Cynthia is an intimate listen perfectly suited to a band whose namesake inhabits an iron lung. (Arthur Digby Sellers is a minor character in the Coen Brothers film The Big Lebowski.) Similar in style and feel to the quixotic experiments of lo-fi alchemists like Sparklehorse and Sufjan Stevens, the Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers is singer/songwriter and North Carolina native Perry Wright and a rotating cast of musicians; members of Ester Drang, the Polyphonic Spree, Sixpence None the Richer, and Bellafea all contribute to Wright's sophomore effort. The Mother of Love gets its title from a bit of paranoid but perceptive conversation overheard at a homeless shelter, and the songs ruminate on the tension between the construct of love and the universal entropy that destroys all (hence the record's subtitle, "The Study of Nature in the Light of Midday"). Simple acoustic vignettes are adorned with gentle accents like theremin, glockenspiel, cello, and violin, which then get tweaked through synthesizers and layers of drum programming (expertly handled by producer Alex Lazara). Some retain their lush, melancholic feel throughout; others erupt in sweeping guitar rave-ups more epic for the contrast. On "The Eventual Intimate of So Much Nostalgia," Wright's treated voice hovers ghost-like over acoustic guitar and eerie vibes, eventually supplanted by a wall of distorted guitars, drums, and strings; "Cannot Eat Better Not Sleep" follows a similar formula while contrasting the cold exterior of the narrator with the roiling emotions simmering within. "Rotation of Crops" begins with a metronomic heartbeat and acoustic guitar supporting a tale of spring love, before chamber-like strings and more guitar distortion raise the tension to a feverish pitch. Elsewhere, glitches and blips dominate: "Archaeopteryx" bubbles with synthesized static, and "Above the Waves" flickers like a fluorescent light on the fritz. Other songs are delivered fairly straightforwardly. "Disposable Drummers in Disposable Bands" is a country shuffle that glides by on organ and the slide guitar of David Daniels, "Ammunition for a Bolt-Action Heart" is an early Roxy Music-meets-Neutral Milk Hotel epic, and "Raise Up, You Celestial Choirs" builds into an elegiac, full-throated crescendo worthy of its title and reminiscent of Arcade Fire's transcendent songs. No matter the forms they take, these songs share a desolate, lonely feel, a product of their minor-key construction, unorthodox instrumentation, and engaging but often nihilistic lyrics. But these elements fit the subject matter with such skill that the songs transcend any suggestion that, with its ostentatious song titles and high-brow conceits, The Mother of Love crosses the line from precocious to pretentious. Wright's emotional honesty and the simple strength of his metaphors keep this record thoroughly grounded, even as it soars heavenward on the strength of its sublime music.

4 Stars - AMG // allmusic.com


Discography

LPs

+ The Mother of Love Emulates the Shapes of Cynthia (2005 Bu_Hanan - Features singles "Rotation of Crops" and "Ammunition for a Bolt-Action Heart" which were in regular rotation on KEXP and college radio throughout 2005).

+ Psalterie (2003 Bu_Hanan).

Singles, Compilations

+ Esopus Magazine #4 "Imaginary Friends" (2005 Esopus Magazine NYC - Features single "Lisa" which was in heavy rotation on KEXP Seattle throughout 2005 and also features tracks by Kimya Dawson, Vetiver, members of Animal Collective and more).

+ I am a Cold Rock. I am Dull Grass: a Tribute to the Music of Will Oldham (2004 Tract - Features track "Raining in Darling" from I See a Darkness, as well as tracks by Iron & Wine, Calexico and more).

+ New Frontiers: Up and Coming Chapel Hill (2004 Bu_Hanan).

EPs

+ Made-Up Words and Stolen Phrases EP (2004 Bu_Hanan).

+ Redux (2006 Bu_Hanan).

Photos

Bio

The Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers are an incomprehensible mess of a band, comprised of the various members, benefactors, patron saints, and onlookers of the bu_hanan collective; this mayhem is orchestrated at the hands of Perry Wright, a delusional raconteur and obsolete office hottie. Producer Alex Lazara holds the Executive powers of Veto and Another Beer, Please. His weaknesses are something kryptonite-related and the phrases "One more time" and "We'll get it on the next take." We won't get it on the next take, Alex.

The band spent 2005 touring in support of the release of The Mother of Love LP, including two national tours with good friends The Mountain Goats, wherein they played as both Prayers & Tears and as The Mountain Goats with John Darnielle and Peter Hughes. In addition to the traditional touring schedule, Prayers & Tears were invited to play an entire acoustic set live on KEXP Seattle, broadcast from The Museum of Television and Radio during the 2005 CMJ Festival in downtown New York, NY.

The band's sophomore release, The Mother of Love Emulates the Shapes of Cynthia (2005), traces one year in the life of a struggling marriage and a convenient affair, and has been praised as "a heavy contender for top 10 albums of 2005" (The Black and White Magazine), "a series of imbricate, evocative images that submerge us in the feelings while sparing us the pathos" (Pitchfork Media), and "a glimpse at the assorted and burrowed tunnels of a complicated mind, an absorbent, watchful, keen mind capable of compiling theories, theologies, dialogues, parables and paradoxes and funneling them into four-minute considerations worthy of thousand-word elaboration" (The Independent).