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Person L - InitialAlternative Press - Editorial Intern on 1/29/09 @ 3:52 PM - altpress.com
When the Starting Line announced their hiatus this past March, it came as quite the surprise to their massive fanbase. While Person L, the newest project of TSL frontman Kenneth Vasoli (with contributions from TSL keyboardist Brian Schmutz), may do little to quell those fans' thirst for the Line's mildly quirky nuevo pop-punk, the project's debut is nonetheless a strong collection of progressive emo/indie-pop narratives. By coincidence or not, Initial largely plays out like a sampler of songs presumably from the upcoming Days Away ("Wooden Soldiers") and Gatsbys American Dream ("Holy Hell," "Born In The Rainy Days Of May") albums (due out 2010 in a parallel universe). Vasoli can be alternately dreamy or aggressive and slightly spastic, but whatever his mood, it's expressed over gritty yet lush layers of percussion and yawning or spiky guitars. A mild Radiohead influence seems to permeate many of the recordings, but guitar tones in the flittering "Canyonlands" actually recall American Football or a full-band Owen. The arresting "Sunshine" comes incredibly close to achieving perfection through heartache. Initial may retain the repetitive (albeit effective) melodies of the Starting Line, but at eight songs preaches quality over quantity and thrives heartily on its subtlety and cautious experimentation. (SELF-RELEASED) Brian Shultz
ROCKS LIKE:
Days Away's Mapping An Invisible World
Gatsbys American Dream's Gatsbys American Dream
High And Driving's High And Driving EP
IN-STORE SESSION WITH FRONTMAN KENNETH VASOLI
You're influenced by a lot of classic alternative/underground bands. Do you find that you've also taken inspiration from bands you've made friends or toured with through the years?
The first band I ever toured with were Rx Bandits, and it's funny because [they've] sort of come full circle in my life as far as being a musical inspiration because [they] turned out to be such an evolutionary band. [They] constantly redefine themselves and are able to make records that are still new and interesting. [Otherwise], a lot of similar-style bands [who the Starting Line toured with] almost forced me to start exploring other sounds and types of music. But bands who have really upbeat, optimistic attitudes, I take inspiration from just the way they conduct themselves.
The recording seems really rough and gritty, which is almost like a complete 180 when you look at the Starting Line's earlier, Drive Thru-era work. How did you go about laying down the tracks, and was that more rugged level intentional?
Yeah. Some of my favorite records are sort of lo-fi but high-quality records, like Phantom Planet's [Phantom Planet] for instance. We wanted it to sound good and still have an organic life to the actual tone. The only thing we did in the studio were basically the drums. Everything else was basically recorded in my basement or my bedroom, so it had a nice mix of a clear, high-quality sound mixed in with a garage band, home-recording feel.
Have you had it with record labels after the experiences with Geffen and Virgin?
There's just so much that comes along with having a record label fund your record. Once they're paying the bills for your recording, they feel like they have to have their own little standby, which is understandable. If I were putting out money for a record, I would probably want to have some kind of control over it. Being a musician, it just kind of takes the art out of it when people start looking at it as a product and how people are gonna want to consume it.
Was it weird having that sort of freedom for the first time in so long?
Yeah, it was really liberating. It's like going back to just the garage for the first time. It just feels so real again. It doesn't feel like I'm trying to force anything into the music. It just felt totally natural [and] really purifying to be able to do it all on my own and know exactly how we wanted it to come out and do our best to make [our] vision a reality. [BS]
Official Website: http://www.myspace.com/personl
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