the story
email us at bridgesandpowerlines@gmail.com
In the decade that has followed 2001, the tone of life in New York City, and largely everywhere else, is often linked to a singular day. Bridges and Powerlines, a NYC based indie pop band, has been a bit obsessed with that lately. To start, their existence is largely due to that event; as four post-2001 NYC expats, Andrew Wood (keys/vocals), David Boyd (guitar/vocals), Keith Sigel (bass/vocals), and Mason Ingram, of Connecticut, Kentucky, North Carolina and Texas respectively, they were all drawn to the city out of the nostalgic goodwill that developed as the nation recovered. For four musically ambitious college radio devotees it didn’t hurt that the city was beginning a rapidly blooming indie pop renaissance.
In the last two years, however, the band has begun to think more about how life had changed after 2001, and devoted much of their energy to writing songs about their memories of the late 90s -- remembrance of a confident, prosperous, naïve and ultimately unsustainable America. Their music is equal parts grandiosity and intimacy: psych-informed, experimental songs with chamber pop strings and horns, gospel-influenced percussion, dense backing vocals, looped guitar riffs and propulsive bass lines.
Citing indie forefathers the Zombies, Guided by Voices and the Elephant 6 Collective as a starting point, the band lovingly terms their music ‘optimist fuzz pop’. Meeting in New York City in late 2005, the members of Bridges and Powerlines realized a common love for intricately arranged three-minute pop songs.
The debut EP that followed met with critical acclaim, described as "an exhilarating racket," (sixeyes) and "a taught example of why [Bridges and Powerlines] should be added to your list of bands to watch." (IGN.com) The success of their EP attracted producer Chris Zane (Passion Pit, The Walkmen, White Rabbits), and the band spent much of 2007 writing and recording their debut album “Ghost Types”. The album then enjoyed a seven-week run in the CMJ top 200 and received favorable nods in multiple influential outlets from Pitchfork (“Now that’s power”) to Yahoo Music (“Incontrovertibly fun”) to Popmatters (“A solid, catchy debut”).
The lead singles from the record, “Uncalibrated,” and from their self-titled debut EP in 2006, “Carmen,” have been downloaded over 100,000 times. This was followed by several successful tours, two appearances at SXSW, and annual appearances at CMJ. Bridges and Powerlines has also played high-profile shows supporting friends The Antlers as well as Drink up Buttercup, Margot and the Nuclear So and So's and many others.
For the last year, however, they have been recording their follow-up album ‘Eve’, the culmination of their thoughts on life prior to the changes of 2001. With producer Kieran Kelley (known best for his work on Sufjan Stephens’ ‘Illinois’) and a host of guests including members of Antony and the Johnsons, indie troubadour Will Stratton, and even their friend Steven Harris of 80s arena-legends the Cult, the band spent 3 months painstakingly creating the record “they wanted to make their whole lives.”
The band is now heading out on tour prior to the February 1, 2011 release of ‘Eve’ on Stunning Models on Display records.
Press contact: Lisa Garelick (lisa@sneakattackmedia.com)
- 'now that's power' pitchfork
- 'worth standing in a crowded club to see' gothamist
- 'recommended' paste magazine
- 'incontrovertibly fun' yahoo music
- 'quirky and epic' the deli magazine
- 'a band to watch' the l magazine
- 'one of the best local acts we've seen in quite a while' the brooklyn paper
- 'energetic, sharp, indie rock songs' washington post.com
- 'Bridges And Powerlines' self-titled debut EP is a taught five-song testament to why they should be get added to your list of bands to watch.' IGN
bridges and powerlines is:
andrew wood, peter mucek, keith sigel, david boyd and mason ingram
a hi-res photo is here.
a hi-res cover of our new record 'Eve' is here.
for PR inquiries: citybirdrecords@gmail.com
