"not because of anyone, on the night when I was gone, oh she was a carrier in the night I could here her footsteps coming..."
On Pine Barons latest album called "I LOVE FISH", the Philadelphia art rockers reimagine the 9 songs by the influential 90's Japanese band Fishmans, a highly divergent sublimely dreamy core of Japan's indie scene whose artistic and historical gravitas has gained weight over the 23 years since lead singer Shinji Sato passed away at only 33. One of Fishmans' most well known songs is "Night Cruising" ("ナイトクルージング") and Pine Barons stay true to the band's psychedelic countenance while taking artistic liberties after receiving the blessings of Shinji Sato’s copyright successor.
About the song and Official Video, Pine Barons' lead vocalist Keith Abrams says "ナイトクルージング (Night Cruising) was one of the first songs that came together for this record early on in the process, and was one of the easier songs to translate into English. It was a popular song for Fishmans when it first came out, and I wanted to stay true to its dreaminess and to have it build upon itself and crescendo into a blissful end.”
"For this video, we tried to embody the brightness and liveliness that was our discovery of Fishmans. Looking back on their music has truly helped us look forward. It sparked a flame and revitalized a forgotten feeling we’ve all had in ourselves - a yearning curiosity and genuine awe. It rekindled our love and appreciation for music, creatively and objectively." says Alex Beebe, keyboardist and director of the music video.
It will be interesting to see if Fishmans purists revel in "I LOVE FISH". I like what I am hearing and I think it is an artistic win win because ultimately more people will find out about a pivotal Japanese band who, to me, feels like a band that were a decade ahead of their time until a tragedy happened.
-Robb Donker Curtius
+ + +
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.facebook.com/pinebarons
https://twitter.com/PineBaronsband
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6i5PXBtxdTuDi3S6MDCEVH
https://pinebarons.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/pinebarons/
Born among the pitch pines of southern New Jersey, Pine Barons is a project that came to fruition as friends gathered around campfires in the nature-rich environments of their hometowns. The band’s beginnings can be traced back to the members getting to know their instruments in their parents’ basements as well as outdoors, adventuring around, exploring an eclectic and intimate palette of punk, jazz and experimental rock.
The band’s debut LP, The Acchin Book (released in 2017), possessed a unique quality from the auxiliary instruments and recording techniques used; feathered paper dragged across paintings, field recordings in the woods at night, accordion, string arrangements and bowed guitars all contributing to the various moods and textures of the record.
It was praised by Consequence who noted: “their complex arrangements echo the type of perplexing subject matter at hand, and their metaphorical lyricism sees them evoking a world beyond reality in hopes of finding the right answers”.
Pine Barons’ follow up effort, 2020’s Mirage on the Meadow, released during the throes of the pandemic, was a more insular effort, as all songs were written, produced and engineered by frontman & multi-instrumentalist, Keith Abrams, who explored themes of human connection while acknowledging impermanence and death’s inevitability. Sonically, Mirage on the Meadow is a psychedelic amalgamation of graveyard shifting indie rock – full of the dread we all experience while retaining a cautious optimism that propels its rich, colorful sound towards a brighter future.
During the mixing process, Abrams stumbled upon the music of cult favorite Japanese band, Fishmans (active throughout the late 80’s and 90’s) and fell in love with their peerless mix of dream pop, psychedelic rock, trip-hop and dub/reggae. Unable to speak the Japanese language himself, Abrams set out to discover what the lyrics actually meant, and with the help of a Japanese-speaking friend, came up with lyrical English interpretations of the late Shinji Sato’s words. After Sato’s copyright successor passed along his blessing to move forward, I LOVE FISH was officially born.
I LOVE FISH is a tribute album in the truest sense. Also produced and engineered in house, Pine Barons brings its own flavor to the arrangements and compositions that comprise nine Fishmans songs, including ambitious fan favorite, the 30-minute plus “LONG SEASON”, a song that has never been attempted as a cover before. Abrams recalls hearing Sato’s voice for the first time, noticing that “without even knowing what the lyrics were, I felt such a strong connection to the voice that sang them. It confirms to me the genuine beauty of that voice and how universal music truly is."
+ + +
Pine Barons, indie rock, dream pop, psych rock, post rock, post punk, "ナイトクルージング" (Night Cruising), Philadelphia, new Fishmans tribute album, "I LOVE FISH", Shinji Sato,
No comments:
Post a Comment