|
Secret Dakota Ring - Cantarell – November 11, 2008
With his second album Cantarell, Secret Dakota Ring mastermind Andy Ross steers his project towards beautifully realized stylistic extremes of pop. Each track reveals a bevy of musical surprises. From the multi-layered summer-of-love psychedelia of “Losing Eyeballs” to the stark strings-only arrangement of “They Got The Wrong Guy” to the Hitsville USA pep of “The Fade to Black,” SDR have crafted a uniquely detailed and completely individual half-hour of ultra-catchy and unpretentious pop music out November 11 on No Office/ Serious Business Records.
Ross wrote Cantarell in tour buses and hotel rooms as he toured the world as OK Go’s guitarist. Every time he found himself in New York City, he’d head to work at Serious Business, the recording studio and record label he co-founded in 2004 with longtime pal, SDR drummer and co-producer Harrison. The sessions began as fun and informal, but as the months progressed, the songs started to pile up.
It had been more than three years since SDR released its debut, Do Not Leave Baggage All The Way, a record that sold out of its first and only pressing thanks to strong word-of-mouth and with virtually no promotional effort or live support, and Ross and Harrison felt it was time to release this new collection of songs.
With Ross living in LA and constantly touring and the nexus of Serious Business remaining in NYC, the process developed as a bi-coastal, FTP-assisted, postal-service-indebted effort. Along the way, they enlisted the prodigious talents of producer/multi-instrumentalists Josh Kaufman (Rocketship Park, Caithlin DeMarrais) and Assaf Spector (Penniless Wilds) to help separately on a few tunes.
www.secretdakotaring.com
www.seriousbusinessrecords.com
For press/publicity information, please contact:
Christine Ernest / The Planetary Group /
617.226.1019
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Advance Praise for "Cantarell"
"...a vision of rock & roll that begins with the Left Banke and the late Zombies, with a heavy dollop of Sean O'Hagan's string arrangements for the High Llamas elsewhere." - All Music Guide
"...Ross combines jangling guitars, hip-shaking tambourines, and strings to create a lush pop landscape. From the radio-ready stomper 'Fade to Black' to the Fruit Bats-esque reverb of 'I Don't Wanna Know About My City' Ross's side project is his best-kept secret." - ReadyMade
"While most of the disc features straightforward, '60s-and '70s-pop-inspired melodies, there are some change-ups. 'They Got The Wrong Guy' features a Billy Corgan (circa Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness) vocal over a string arrangement; 'The Fade To Black' leans heavier to the indie-rock side with handclaps and glockenspiel; and 'Sell Us A Spaceship' is an ambient , layered slow-burner." - Alternative Press
"Ross sounds like a shoegazer who wants to spend too much time with the Beach Boys, but his guitars hang in the background, buttressing saccharine swaths like 'Red Light' and 'I Blew Myself Up Over You,' and louder nuggets such as 'Sell Us a Spaceship." - Metromix
"One part classical music and three parts soft pop music, much in the vein of the early '60s bubblegum bands, Secret Dakota Ring possess a new style not heard often in modern rock." - Metro Spirit
|
