Tag Archive for: Graham O’Brien

Camp Dark

CampDark

Camp Dark • Nightmare In A Day

Camp Dark‘s first offering, Nightmare In A Day, (or Beware started as a collection of song skeletons composed by Adam Svec and Graham O’Brien. The meat on the bones was added by a list of wonderful players. The arrangement of the limbs, direction of the hair, and shade of the makeup was largely generated and organized by O’Brien.

The combination of the heavy lyrical content settled against a gorgeous sonic landscape reminiscent of Radiohead’s “Let Down” or Bjork’s “Yoga” makes for a musical experience that will have the audiophiles reaching for their headphones and the motorists choosing the long way home.

A former member of dearly departed local band The Glad Version, Adam Svec has been warmly received since he debuted as a solo artist in 2008. Svec is a prolific songwriter, having come out with three albums in as many years.

Known for his lilting tenor and simple but compelling folk arrangements, Svec is influenced by his studies in audiology and his personal experiences, which consciously and unconsciously influence his songwriting and instrumentation.

 

I had a chance to play bass on a few of these tracks and got a chance to sit down with Adam about his approach.

What is your Songwriting process?

It depends on the day and on the song. I walk about two hours a day, so that leaves me a lot of time to think
certain things through. When I’m walking, I’ll often get melody or lyric ideas for very small portions of a song. As I
keep repeating it in my head or quietly under my breath, the idea will expand. If I have time when I get home, I’ll try
to flesh out the idea on guitar, or at least I’ll get an idea of what key it’s in and what the general structure is so I can
revisit it another day. I try to play new songs every day for at least two weeks to see whether or not I still enjoy
them after the “trial period.” Repetition and editing tend to be my best friends when it comes to songwriting. The
more I play a song, the more I know two things: 1) whether or not I like it, and 2) what needs to be changed.

Who would you consider a major influence?

I’ve always thought the major influences of my current writing scheme have been John Vanderslice, David Bazan,
Low, and Radiohead. However, the first tape I ever bought was Michael Jackson “Thriller” in 1987, and I don’t think
that would surprise anybody. Also, I’m old.

You have moved around a few time since your last album – Has the geography and cultural differences in location affected your process?

For this particular project, a lot of the songs that made the cut were things I started working on while living in
Charleston, SC. I think that location, in particular, shines through in the heavy atmosphere of the final arrangements. I did not enjoy my time in Dixie, and that becomes clear pretty quickly. That being said, Graham (O’Brien) had such a huge hand in how this album ended up sounding, I can really only take credit for the skeletons of how the songs began. All the meat on the bones was put there by so many wonderful players, which was eventually arranged and mixed by Graham.

Another aspect of my life that has changed my writing process since the last record we made is improvisation. Since starting to play with Coloring Time, making a Proofreader album, and spending a small amount of time in a couple of Chris Cunningham’s bands, my eyes have been opened to the power of “making shit up” in real time. In this process, the set demands that you trust yourself and trust your immediate choices, even if they don’t result in the best music possible. The amazing thing about improvisation is that the full array of sink-to-swim is on display for the audience. In an hour set, the players understand that not every moment is going to be spectacular. Some moments are really amazing, other moments, not so much. If practice makes perfect, improvising makes a player brave. Perfection can get boring… but courage is almost always exciting, for better or worse.

Anyway, I feel like improvising has challenged me to try new, less safe things in my writing world. I don’t think you necessarily get the sense that I’m a really fucking weird songwriter now or anything, but hopefully it’s helped me take risks that I wouldn’t have otherwise taken… like burglary… just kidding.

What are you listening to right now?

I’ve been going back and listening to some MK Ultra from the mid-90s. Adam Krinsky turned me on to Here We Go Magic in August, and I haven’t been able to stop listening to that record. As with all things 2015, I need to ask my phone what I’ve been listening to.

Here’s what my phone says in alphabetical order: Aesop Rock “Skelethon,” Archers of Loaf “White Trash Heroes,” Bill Calahan “Woke On A Whaleheart,” D’Angelo “Black Messiah,” Kimbra “The Golden Echo,” La Luz “It’s Alive,” Serengeti “Saal,” Sombear “Love You In The Dark,” Sun Kil Moon “Benji,” Tungsten “recorded,” Volcano Choir “Repave,” We Are The Willows “Picture (Portrait),” Wye Oak (whole catalogue).

My friend Alice is in this wonderful Seattle band called La Luz, and they’re pretty much taking over the world. She happened to be in town while we were recording, so you’ll hear her voice sneak into the mix every so often. Also, I just saw Hippocampus for the first time this week. I didn’t know what to expect, but I didn’t expect to be floored. I really enjoyed the show. It reminded me of the perfect combination of Vampire Weekend + Arctic Monkeys… two bands I don’t have any particular affinity for, but the gentlemen in Hippocampus stole the show.

 

Camp Dark Album Release party is on May 15th, 2015 @ Icehouse.
Tickets here: 

 

Charlie from Camp Dark on Vimeo.

 

Written by Adam Svec & Graham O’Brien
Lyrics by Adam Svec

Produced by Graham O’Brien
Samplers & Drums by Graham O’Brien

Recorded by Graham at Bellows Studio
Mixed by Graham and Adam Krinsky at Bellows
Mastered by Huntley Miller

Contributors (in alphabetical order): Dan Choma, Matt Friesen, deVon Gray, John Keston, Matt Leavitt, Robert Mulrennan, Casey O’Brien, Chris Salter.

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Best Of The Twin Cities / City Pages

CP_Bestof2015Brothers Casey and Graham O’Brien could be the tightest and most prolific rhythmic one-two punch in Twin Cities history. In addition to teaming up on projects under their own names, Graham on drums and/or Casey on bass have enhanced albums from No Bird Sing, Moon & Pollution, PaviElle, Kristoff Krane, Carnage the Executioner, Face Candy, Camp Dark, FIX, Sonny Knight & the Lakers, and countless others. Both are ace producers inclined to seek mind-melting configurations, scale-busting emotional tonnage, and balls-out live execution. See them, feel them, and fear them.

CP Staff 

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PaviElle

PaviElle • Fear Not

Fear Not, presents the captivating work of innovative, potent and dynamic neo-soul singer PaviElle French, and represents her much anticipated return to performing after a five year hiatus.

In the past, PaviElle has taken the stage professionally as a vocalist, singer songwriter and spoken word artist, working with Khalil Queen, Everyday People, and as an early member of EduPoetic Enterbrainment, a group integrating  spoken word, R&B, jazz, reggae and hip-hop. Her new endeavor is a musical collaboration with bassist, producer and composer Casey O’Brien and presents ten years of her songwriting, all of it deeply personal and autobiographical.

“It’s like you’re opening up and reading my diary,” PaviElle says. “’These songs are my life, the ups and downs of it all.”

In the new recording PaviElle says she’s committed to “honoring the black aesthetic in soul music,” something she fears her generation (she’s 29) has abandoned.

“With the millennials, that black soul music appreciation seems to be gone,” PaviElle says. “And that bothers me. I grew up wanting to be Chaka Khan. That’s the sound and style I loved. I want to hold up that lineage that she carried, and that Aretha carried and also groups like Parliament.”

Indeed, PaviElle’s sound often has the faint flavor of Sly and the Family Stone, or seems to draw on the influences of little Jose James, and Rufus—with the soulful feel of Bill Withers occasionally evident in the groove.

“It definitely has the 70′s R&B feel,” says O’Brien. “It’s a close album, it draws you in and keeps you in that space. You’re taken into the room. There’s no excess baggage. You’re hearing real musicians actually playing together.”

PaviElle hails from St Paul’s Rondo neighborhood, growing up in a family steeped in music. As a devoted music connoisseur, her father introduced her to a wide variety of sounds, her uncle, George Young, played saxophone for Purple Haze, her mother played saxophone as well and her actor/playwright brother Ahanti Young is an accomplished percussionist and performs with her on the new record.

For Fear Not, she strayed only a couple miles from her old neighborhood, recording at St Paul’s Bellows studio with O’Brien on bass and guitar, Ted Godbout on keys, Nick Dodd on drums, Bryan Highhill on trumpet and Tony Beaderstadt on trombone.

While the sound the group captured was vintage, PaviElle brings her own personal style and passionate energy to her singing, making for a fresh sound that’s uniquely her own. She says she always has a way she wants her songs to “swing,” and it’s this free-style emotion, in the scatting and vocalizing, that brings a millennial’s heart-born, contemporary vision to a classic soul music sound.

 

I had the great pleasure of producing, playing bass and guitar on this album and got a chance to sit down and talk with PaviElle about her process:

What is your songwriting process?

I don’t really have a songwriting process. A melody or a bass line usually comes to me out of nowhere and then I just go from there. I create the: Bass line, beat, lyrics, chords. In that order.

Who would you consider a major influence?

I have several major influences but only three come to mind: Chaka Khan, Ella Fitzgerald, Parliament/Funkadelic.

How has the success of the band and the recent play affected you?

The success of the band and my one-woman show has affected me in a huge way. I am overwhelmed…with joy, and also with sadness because I wish I could share this with the people that raised me. But, overall I am motivated to continue pushing and, I am highly inspired to create more art.

What is coming up next (album, tour, play, ect…)

What’s coming up next? Not quite sure. I have a lot of ideas, one being that I plan to remount the show, “Runnin’.” I feel that more people need to see art that provokes them to think as if there were no box. And, I would like to write and produce another album…maybe for a 2016 release. I work with kids and, would like to see my junior class graduated next year so,  I would like to keep playing venues and creating a following until I feel its time to get up out of here in the next year or so.

What are you listening to right now?

Prhyme, J. Cole and,  Kandace Springs. (and of course all things old school).

 

PaviElle will be playing @ Icehouse on Saturday, February 21st @ 11pm.
Tickets available here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1220263

 

Fear Not

01. Runnin’ (P.French/C.O’Brien)
02. I Miss You (P.French/C.O’Brien)
03. Logic and Reason (C.O’Brien/T.Godbout/N.Dodd)
04. Disbelief (P.French/C.O’Brien)
05. Strange Plane (C.O’Brien/T.Godbout/N.Dodd)
06. Sometimes You Wanna Be (P.French/C.O’Brien)
07. Dreams (S.Nicks)
08. Aftertheafter (C.O’Brien/T.Godbout/N.Dodd)
09. Be Right There (P.French/C.O’Brien)
10. The Breakup Song (P.French)

 

PaviElle – Vocals
Ted Godbout – Keys
Nick Dodd – Drums
Ahanti Young – Percusion
Bryan Highhill  – Trumpet
Tony Beaderstadt – Trombone
Casey O’Brien – Bass and Guitar

Produced By Casey O’Brien
Recorded and Mixed by Adam Krinsky & Graham O’Brien @ Bellows. St. Paul, MN.
Mastered by Huntley Miller @ HM Mastering.

 

Disbelief
(P.French/C.O’Brien)

PaviElle – Vocals
Ted Godbout – Keys
Nick Dodd – Drums
Ahanti Young – Percusion
Bryan Highhill  – Trumpet
Tony Beaderstadt – Trombone
Cole Pulice – Saxophone
Casey O’Brien – Bass and Guitar

Produced By Casey O’Brien
Recorded by Alex Proctor @ Icehouse. Minneapolis, MN.
Mixed and Mastered by Adam Krinsky & Graham O’Brien @ Bellows. St. Paul, MN.

Video by PCP

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Moon and Pollution

Moon & Pollution • The Box Borealis

Moon and Pollution is the new electronic pop duo combining singer Molly Dean’s haunting, operatic vocals with producer Graham O’Brien’s (No Bird Sing) hard-hitting beats and rich, melodic textures. M&P debuted at the Bayfront Festival where Slug of Atmosphere asked them to play after hearing an unreleased track. Shortly thereafter, their song Alter Eagle was featured on the Season 4 premiere of MTV’s Teen Wolf. Moon and Pollution’s debut album The Box Borealis (F I X) will be released on January 27th, 2015.

I had the great pleasure of playing on a couple of these songs and got a chance to sit down and talk with Graham and Molly about the process:

What is your songwriting process?

GOB: I send Molly some in-progress musical pieces that I create using synths and samplers, and she picks out the ones that interest her. Then we experiment in the studio at length, trying different vocal approaches and bringing in a slew of musicians to augment the ideas. It’s a very studio-based process- the songwriting and production/recording process merge.

MD: I’ll listen through the tracks that Graham sends me and go with what initially jumps out at me. I know if it jumps because I’ll begin writing right away, random descriptive words that the music sounds & feels like to me.  These usually become the basis for the lyrical body down the road. This process can take some time, with absorbing the textures and sounds and sort of massaging my way into the song with vocals sounds or words. Some tracks call for a lot of sparsity with the vocals as the tracks themselves are so beautiful and composed already.  Graham and I will then schedule a session and record vocals, try out new effects and sounds and work on the overall structure.  Then Graham goes into a creative cave for weeks at a time to work his production magic.  When he re-emerges, we meet up for another session to talk about the direction of where things are going, who could be brought in to play additional instrumental parts, etc.. Then we have a song. Or ten songs.
 
Who would you consider a major influence?

GOB: Portishead producer Geoff Barrow may be the biggest influence for me on this project. Portishead records feel like soundtrack music. I wanted that same effect with this record, like an accompaniment for the movie in your head.

MD: LAMB (electronic duo from London), Lou Rhodes as a singer and songwriter (for LAMB), Portishead, Goldfrapp and Massive Attack would all be influential artists for me in the M&P project.  Listening to these artists (and many others) brought forth a new interest in exploring the creation of this sort of haunting soundscape in music, and configuring it into live performance.
 

Has music placement (MTV’s Teen Wolf) helped create tangible momentum for the group?

GOB: Definitely. The TV placements have been exciting and encouraging. There are a lot of different audiences and niches for bands now, but they can be hard to find. Getting a few TV placements reminded us that we’re onto something that’s resonating with people.

 
What is the next step for you? Tours, another album…
GOB: Right now, just focused on getting the live show ready and getting this record into as many people’s ears as possible. I’d really like to do another record down the road.
 
What are you listening to right now?

GOB: Rainforest  (Clams Casino)
MD: The Mission (Ennio Morricone)
          Overgrown (James Blake)
          My Brightest Diamond

 

Moon and Pollution will be playing an album release show at Icehouse MPLS on January 31st with special guests Damage Controller (Jeremy Ylvisaker / dosh / Mike Lewis) + Joe Horton
$8 Advance / $10 Door / 21+ / 11pm

More Press:
http://inyourspeakers.com/content/news/292-introducing-moon-pollution-01082015

Album available here:
https://moonandpollution.bandcamp.com/

 

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Jazz Favorites of 2014 / David Cazares / MPR

Ghostdance“One of the best surprises of the year came in December, when bassist Casey O’Brien announced a new recording that includes Nathan Hanson on saxophones and Davu Seru on drums.On “Ghost Dance,” the trio performs eight original compositions by O’Brien, the house bass player for the soul and R&B label Secret Stash. On the album’s moody and flowing tracks, the musicians produce sounds that dance in the air.”

David Cazares – MPR

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