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Audrye Sessions
Rob Ortenzi on 6/16/09 @ 1:13 PM
NOW PLAYING: Audrye Sessions (BLACK SEAL)
WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM: With their deft combination of Radiohead-esque arrangements (ca. Pablo Honey), carefully crafted indie-rock melodies and introspective lyrics, Audrye Sessions already have fans flocking to their shows (and arguing about their record label deal online).
YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE: Radiohead / Coldplay / Arcade Fire
STORY: Emily Zemler
PHOTO: Chris Phelps
Northern California's Bay Area seems like a breeding ground for innovative, impassioned bands who, while sonically disparate, join under the collective goal of making good music and getting it heard by the world. Audrye Sessions, a group who have come up alongside bands like the Matches and Scissors For Lefty, are the latest Oakland export generating buzz nationwide. But don't expect them to sound anything like their peers.
"It was always that we were friends and appreciated what each other were doing, not that we all sounded the same," vocalist/guitarist Ryan Karazija says. "It wasn't like we were trying to make this movement of bands that all sounded alike. We were just friends, and it's helped all of us."
Audrye Sessions formed more than two-and-a-half years ago, eventually solidifying their lineup in 2007 with bassist Alicia Campbell, drummer James Leste and guitarist Michael Knox. The foursome self-released 1,000 copies of their debut album, Braille in 2007, signed with RCA Records subsidiary Black Seal, in early 2008 and are now releasing their self-titled second disc that contains new tracks along with a collection of songs from Braille.
"We just kinda grabbed Post-Its with the names of all our songs and picked some," Karazija says of the new disc. "There are two songs on [Audrye Sessions] I didn't really want on there, but the label really wanted them because their whole thing is, 'Nobody's heard [Braille].' These songs have been written over a long period of time. It's not like we sat down and wrote them in a few months-or even really worked on a big group of them for a few months. They were so spread out. I guess it is and it isn't cohesive."
But the band already feel distanced from the album, which was completed in May 2008 ("It's just a bunch of songs that we've written since we got together as a band," says Karazija), and have begun penning new songs for a future release. Recent tours with the likes of Margot & The Nuclear So And So's and Person L have allowed the group to reinvent the old tracks live and give them new life. Touring has also put the band into a collective mindset, a sensibility that will surely impact subsequent records.
"Now that we've been playing together for a while, our heads are in the same zone right now," Karazija says. "I think the next album will have more of a common thread. I don't know [if we know who we are]; it just kinda happened. It's like when you take four girls and move them in together and they all sync up; they all start having their period at the same time. That's us. We've all been around each other so much that we're all in the same natural space."
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sick!