the Souterrain
Davis, California, United States | SELF
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The Souterrain, Saturday, noon to 1 p.m., Cedar Stage
Created as a collective band only six months ago, The Souterrain will make their debut at the Whole Earth Festival on Saturday.
The Souterrain is currently made up of Lauren Norton on vocals, Sam Shirley on guitar and David Sachs on upright bass. Although they are not necessarily new to the music scene, this will be their first time playing specific songs on set. With an extremely smooth and soulful voice, Norton will join Shirley and Sachs for sweet, folk-y songs.
“Our set-list looks something like a Greek comedy,” Norton said. “We start off in a slower, more contentious place and by the end of the hour we’re all bopping around and doing cheesy over-the-head hand claps. A lot of our songs start as a kind of sickness. I do most of my songwriting when I’m feeling jilted or unhealthily obsessed with someone.”
The Souterrain played their first gig at The Domes back in January. However, the band is progressing fast. Currently, the band is wrapping up their first in-studio album with hopes of a West Coast U.S. tour in June. The Souterrain will be flying back to Norton’s hometown of Dublin, Ireland, in September to start a European tour.
For more information about The Whole Earth Festival or to download this year’s program, go to http://wef.ucdavis.edu. - The California Aggie
Aside from the Bob Dylans and Tom Waits of the world, most musical lyrics are not often thought of as poetry. Songwriters like Lauren Norton of Davis the Souterrain are out to reverse that line of thinking. Norton, a Masters student in creative writing at UC Davis, holds nothing back in using her written word as a fourth instrument along with her vocals, Sam Shirleys acoustic guitar and David Sachs upright bass, in creating a tapestry of free-formed folk jazz powered by lyrical impressionism and boldly creative refinement. - ABC News 10
The Souterrain’s organic, no frills all-acoustic style features dexterous standup bass and agile acoustic guitar accompanying singer Lauren Norton, whose rich voice is, by turns, sincere and flirtatious. Toss in some bongo-like percussion and you’ve got something of a modern-day beatnik vibe. The band displays sophisticated key changes in “Cornershop,” while “Jenny’s Song” is an upbeat tune with tasty slide guitar filigree and plenty of soul and touch. The next step for this smart, collegiate trio is to treat their music to the quality production is deserves. - Music Connection
Discography
Our Live EP was recorded during a show at KDVS's Studio A, while our self-titled album was recorded by Scott McChane in Sacramento's premier recording studio, the Hanger. We are currently in post-production of the album.
Self-Titled Album:
1. Corner Shop
2. Dance 'Til You're Dancing
3. The Island
4. Soft Truth
5. What Ails You
6. Tattoo
7. Mr Bones
8. Sous Sol
9. Pink Flamingo
10. Jack Be Nimble
11. Ill Seen Ill Said
Photos
Bio
The Souterrain is an award-winning folk and jazz outfit from California. Vocalist Lauren Norton was born and raised in Ireland, where she studied Sean-nós ("the Old-Style") singing. She is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the creative writing MA at UC Davis. David Sachs is a classically trained double-bassist, performing with various symphonies up and down the California coast, Europe and Carnegie Hall. He studies English and music at UC Davis. Sam Shirley is a multi-instrumentalist with a dramatic arts degree from UC Davis. Percussionist Kelsey Brewer is studying international-relations and Arabic; he also has a talented green-thumb.
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