Start Your Music Month Right!
J. Graves
J. Graves is setting out to pioneer something different, with bandleader Jessa Graves squeezing together a tightly packed ball of anger, grief, and acceptance in her latest album Fortress of Fun - an outpouring of wild fury and plaintive sadness with a dark, angular sound.
Big new ideas abound, not just musically, but conceptually, too. COVID’s onset in March 2020 forced musicians worldwide to adapt creatively to the impending digital-only era, so it’s rare to see true innovation in an otherwise saturated market, but J. Graves have come up with a captivating idea: a “choose your own adventure” album.
Wanting to do something with a little more depth that would engage audiences creatively while welcoming listeners into their experience, the idea was borne from finding a choose-your-own-adventure book in a sci-fi themed studio during the recording process of previous album Deathbed. Early 2020 was tough for the band; like many artists, their built-up momentum was quickly shuttered by COVID’s insurgence. So, in mid-2020, the band went on a getaway to the coast, and the house they were staying in – lit up at night next to the dark ocean – became known as their “fortress of fun,” a title that seems immediately at odds with the album’s often-dark undertones, but one that nonetheless suits Graves’s fight to stay in the light.
In that sense, the album exists in two states: the first a mournful and mysterious effort that parses waves of difficult emotions; the second a lush, eclectic undertaking that puts listeners and viewers at the forefront of the band’s collective imagination. Each song from the album comes with a video, through which viewer/listeners can make choices that will lead to further interactive videos. Though the songs are, thematically and contextually, fully distinct from their choose-your-own-adventure video counterparts, the emotion remains raw and real, and J. Graves, with the help of mixer/producer Sylvia Massy, has fine-tuned their sound like never before into something simultaneously painful and buoyant.
J. Graves is Aaron MacDonald (drums), Kelly Clifton (bass), and Jessa Graves (guitar, vocals).
Bridal Veil
Bridal Veil is an American four-piece band from Portland, Oregon inspired by the emotional pangs of the 90’s — the last era to know what life was like without a cell phone in every hand.
Led by guitarist/soprano/flutist Emily Overstreet, the band weaves between ethereal dreampop similar to Cocteau Twins and heavy walls of noise akin to My Bloody Valentine. She is joined by guitarist and producer Jordan Richter, bassist Aaron Krause and Raymond Anthony Hughes on drums.
Together they perform a memorable live set that delivers vulnerable songwriting paired with well-placed force. Their debut EP, Morpho, was released on November 8, 2019.
Sit Pretty
Sit Pretty's work draws inspiration from the electric, rhythmic, atmospheric sounds of the 80s and post-rock, pop influences from the 90’s. All four members cut their teeth on the Pacific Northwest music scene in various projects for over a decade. The band has distilled their various influences into a blend of noisy sonic textures, tight beats and gentle melodies that makes them happy. They hope it makes you happy too.