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Artists > A - C > Autumn Defense, The

 
:: Circles  Ref: COOKCD281
 
 
 
Circles

Price:   £7.99

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Crawling along the glistening Pacific Coast, ogling the dying bloodshot sun with a pair of drunken eyes, you fumble along the dash of your Plymouth Duster, groping the radio dial in search of a soundtrack for this singularly SoCal moment. You fumble, you grumble, and then...like a spectre, the music takes shape. Honey sweet harmonies oozing from the speakers, tangled guitars, lounging organs, brush beats-the sound of California putting it's warm, comforting arms around you. It could be Colin Blundstone. Van Morrison. Emitt Rhodes. But in this case, the bittersweet jangle comes courtesy of the unlikeliest of sunshine supermen-the Autumn Defense.

Buoyed by multi-instrumentalists John Stirratt and Pat Sansone, the Autumn Defense is a blatant contradiction in climes. Based in Chicago and New York respectively, their land locked, cold weather homes would seem to obscure the breezy, blue skies that color their sound. In fact, from the initial tracks laid down in a friend's home studio in Nashville to final mixing in Chicago, a harsh chill almost seemed to stalk the Circles sessions. It seemed that there was snow on the ground for the entire span of recording, says Stirratt of the band's second album. Even in Nashville, we rode out some of the colder weather that they've seen in some time. It was like one long winter.

And then, of course, there's the band's mythical lineage. You might expect Stirratt, bassist for alt heroes Wilco and country punk forefathers Uncle Tupelo, to further mine the well-tilled twang-rock soil. But Circles is closer in spirit to the mellow vibe of 70s staples like Bread and late-period Byrds, a groove Wilco flirted with on Summerteeth, then left behind on the genre-defying Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

It's been nice to stress the organic nature of the collaboration, Stirratt says. These tunes aren't really meant for deconstruction. It has a purposely casual tone due to where we live and our schedules. It's not something that we could spend day in and day out on together. But being busy was always the way our favorite bands worked. The yeoman route has panned out for the Autumn Defense as well. Between Sansone's spate of session work with the likes of Josh Rouse, Joseph Arthur and Dave Pirner, and Stirratt's nonstop touring and recording with Wilco, Circles morphed from just another album and into a cozy shelter from the storm for both artists.

The record has a nice insulated, at-home feel when I hear it, Stirratt says. You know, lots of gumbo, etoufee, margaritas and Mr. Show. Winter projects can feel like that-total immersion in the music and the feeling that you're creating your own little universe. And in this lush universe, two guys shivering in the heartland can channel the sea, sand and sun of California and create one endless, shimmering summer.
 


 


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