"Leo", one of two singles off of Battle Ave's upcoming first new album in seven years, "I Saw The Egg", feels gloriously broken or, in the least, drunken, happily so. With big slow waltz guitar and piano lines intersecting, diverting among swaying 'bar sing-a-long' acoustic guitar rhythms and blaring intoxicated horns, there is a glorious sense of partying on the Titanic or making out with a good friend while sloppy drunk. That is to say, the sounds feel brilliant, quirky and somber all at the same time. It is the kind of vibrant sound set in the concrete of old forgotten neighborhoods that makes you see interesting cinema that tugs hard at your heart and brain.
At the core of the Hudson Valley based band is drummer Samantha Niss and guitarist / vocalist Jesse Doherty who formed Battle Ave in 2009. Their pivotal much loved 2015 album "Year of Nod" garnered them accolades and a larger audience after which life did what it always does. Throw things at you. Fatherhood, graduate school, new members and the Niss's cancer diagnosis. Time moved and stood still at the same time. Last year the band released their self titled 5 song EP, recorded remotely, each member adding their piece of the puzzle to each song and now a new full length coming out.
Of "Leo", Doherty shares:
Leo: One of the quickest songs I’ve ever written. If I remember it correctly, I got high and started playing my roommate’s piano (I don’t really play piano) and came up with the chords and melody that became the center of the track. The entire song came together in about 30 minutes, which runs counter to my usual writing process, since I normally take years per song. When we recorded it, we played it too fast, so we took the entire track and slowed it down by about 15bpm before I recorded vocals. I think it gives it this hazy, muted feeling, like it’s been dipped in cough syrup. Also, working with Laura Stevenson on this was the easiest collaboration I've ever done.. I think she sent me 3 different takes, and they were all so good I just used all of them. Her voice adds a bit of clarity to the track.
The future looks bright and life is, after all, a battle, now isn't it?
Battle Ave's full length "I Saw The Egg" is set to drop April 1st, 2022.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.facebook.com/battleaveband
https://twitter.com/battleaveband
https://battleave.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/battle_ave/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRRyxR8G96hSUdco7dgWNCg
https://soundcloud.com/battleaveny
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1BYFXfxBrNpwFXsvvExRW7
In the six years since Battle Ave’s last release, Year of Nod, the Hudson-Valley based band have navigated fatherhood, graduate school, new members, and the cancer diagnosis of drummer Samantha Niss . Now, they’re ready for a reintroduction. Originally formed in 2009 by Niss and guitarist/vocalist Jesse Doherty, the group connected over their love of ambient arrangements, orchestral epics, and the ramshackle indie-rock of the early 90’s. Armed with more experience than ever before, their new self-titled EP expertly stitches together these influences through an intuitive shared language. It’s the kind of creative collaboration that can only exist through sustained friendship and trust.
Battle Ave was largely recorded and arranged remotely, with Doherty describing it as “like a game of Exquisite Corpse… the band mostly cobbled their parts together without knowing what anyone else was going to do.” This resulted in the EP’s dense melodic haze. On opener “My Year With The Wizard,” moody, distorted guitars and piercing drums are juxtaposed with a bright indie-pop chorus, as Doherty considers the transience of friendship and the danger of forgetting yourself in your relationships. “Fear Of” sees sustained pedal-steel wails and a bright, waltzing piano craft a stage for Doherty’s beautifully lethargic vocals, while the meditative, instrumental kaleidoscope “Kingston South Cuties” functions as both intermission and palate cleanser.
The second half of the EP starts with “Cell,” a surging, existential call into the void, with Doherty lamenting “I lost myself all by myself” as the music careens chaotically forward. At almost eight minutes, the closing track “There Can’t Be Love” pieces together a patchwork of lo-fi arrangements underneath stirring guest vocals from And The Kids’ Hannah Mohan, creating a celestial instrumental blanket that morphs into a poignant acoustic finale. Doherty’s persistent final refrain—“there can’t be love in everything”—becomes a coda for the EP as a whole, which is focused on the importance of critically interrogating your life and everyone whom you share it with.
Battle Ave is a wizened throwback to various beloved cult catalogues which manages to shake off any nostalgic fog and avoid anachronism by employing a detailed focus on the here and now. The EP quietly points to the effort it takes to keep going, and the work it takes to be tender towards even our most intrusive thoughts. The band crafts an evocation of the human experience that is characterized by determination, strength and wonder. “We were gone for six years,” Doherty says. “But that doesn't mean we were dead.”
words by Sammy Maine
Battle Ave, indie rock, dream pop, whimsical, ballad, psychedelic pop, chamber pop, folk rock, singer-songwriter, "Leo", new full length, "I Saw The Egg", Laura Stevenson,
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