Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Port O'Brien

It was the story behind this album and the members of Port O'Brien that made me curious. Their debut album "All We Could Do Was Sing" was mainly inspired by the daily work of the bandmembers ranging from baking to fishing. Although this may sound rather strange, it translated into a beautiful album.
Port O'Brien began early in the year 2005, as a folk-ish duo of Van Pierszalowski and Cambria Goodwin. Shortly thereafter, when they moved to the Bay Area the project added a rhythm section, comprised of Caleb Nichols and Joshua Barnhart. Every summer, Van works on his father's commercial salmon fishing boat, the Shawnee, on Kodiak Island in Alaska. The work is exhausting and the weather could be much better, but the contrast between the serenity of the wilderness and the rigorousness of the labor seem to cause quite a bit of musical inspiration. Meanwhile, on land and around the corner, Cambria also writes music while maintaining her position as the Head Baker at Larsen Bay. After both write parts and lyrics separately, they fix them together when Van comes ashore. This resulted into the band's first studio-recorded album "All We Could Do Was Sing" Because when you're working all day in the freezing cold, what the hell else are you going to do? The album was recorded in San Francisco. Lush string arrangements, raw electric guitar, percussive banjo, pots + pans, a tight rhythm section, group chants and screaming provide the new album with a diverse, but cohesive feel. They've become a touring machine since the critically lauded M. Ward first named Port O'Brien his Favorite New Band. They have been able to perform with several of their favorite artists; Rogue Wave, Bright Eyes, the Cave Singers, and Nada Surf. Now, Port O'Brien is ready to take on the rest of the world, when they visit Europe I'll definitely be there to support them!

2 comments:

Anonymous

They are such a good band!


Apart of them, you should try Lost In The Trees, nice US band playing classical-pop music. Very interesting!

LMLI

Thanks for the tip, already featured on this blog! :)

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