|
Crooked Fingers will release their fifth LP, titled Forfeit / Fortune October 7th, 2008 on Red Pig / Constant Artists, Inc.. Produced by Mark Nevers (Andrew Bird, Lambchop, Silver Jews), Alex McManus (The Bruces, Bright Eyes) and Eric Bachmann in Nashville, Denver, and Tucson this past spring, Forfeit / Fortune will be their first release since 2005's Dignity and Shame (Merge).
Forfeit / Fortune features the fullest and most eclectic orchestration on a Crooked Fingers release to date, kicking off with the horn-heavy “What Never Comes”, and the drum machine-based “Luisa's Bones”. Whereas Dignity & Shame was recorded entirely live, Forfeit / Fortune was a more piecemeal affair, with CF enlisting an all-star cast of players to perform on the record, with the cast depending on the city they were in. Brian Kotzur (Silver Jews) lent his to the project in Nashville, while Tom Hagerman (Devotchka) laid down string parts in Denver. Frequent Crooked Fingers touring mate Neko Case sang the brilliant album-closing duet “Your Control” with Bachmann at the Upstairs Studio / Wavelab Studios in Tucson. Bachmann, a noted composer in his own right, wrote and arranged the string and horn parts on the record, in addition to functioning as the album's “creative director” of sorts.
After releasing albums on indie powerhouses Merge (2003's Red Devil Dawn and 2005's Dignity and Shame) and Saddle Creek (Bachmann's 2006 solo debut To the Races), Forfeit / Fortune will be the debut release on Red Pig / Constant Artists, Inc. (more info below on both imprints), and will be distributed exclusively to 20 key independent retailers in the United States. These hand picked retailers have been some of the most supportive fans of Crooked Fingers to date, and this explicitly not-big-box-accessible album is a nod to those retailers who have shown support for the band over the past eight years of releases. The album will be available digitally via CrookedFingers.com and iTunes.
Asked why the label change at this point in his career, Bachmann said: “It's certainly not because those labels aren't a good place to put out your records. Mostly it's because there are so many avenues online to do it without a label… Also, in terms of the independent record stores we're working with, there's a history. At most of these stores, I've done in-store performances over the years or know the owner or an employee pretty well... And I'm pretty sure those guys sold a lot more of my records to fans than Tower or Borders or Barnes and Nobles or WalMart or Satan. I'm thankful to them and would rather just do business with them, really. It's not like 17 years in these big retailers are going to start giving a shit about Crooked Fingers...”
"At sea a fellow comes out. Salt water is like wine, in that respect."-Herman Melville
Port O'Brien began early in the year 2005, as a folk-ish duo of Van Pierszalowski and Cambria Goodwin. The two penned songs while Cambria lived in the tiny Californian coastal town she shares her name with and Van lived in an apartment in Oakland which was about the size of his name. Shortly thereafter, Cambria moved to up to the Bay Area and within the next year, the project added a rhythm section, comprised of Caleb Nichols and Joshua Barnhart.
In the summer of 2007, the band released a compilation of previously self-released songs titled The Wind and The Swell on American Dust Records. They've become a touring machine since the critically lauded M. Ward first named Port O'Brien his Favorite New Band on Pitchfork Media. They have been able to perform with several of their favorite artists; touring the United States with Rogue Wave , the West Coast with both Bright Eyes and the Cave Singers , and England with Modest Mouse . Now, Port O'Brien is ready to take on the rest of the world, using the little island of Kodiak as a jumping off point.
|
