THE RAYMOND BRAKE

Andy Cabic-guitar, vocals
Ryan Stewart - guitar, vocals
Peder Hollinghurst - bass
Joel Darden - drums

"The perfect noise exists between everything and nothing."
-Patti Smith

Some bands are everything: the naked object, they R-O-C-K in capital letters according to the most recent, successful examples in their field. They are all flash pots, angst and compression. At the other extreme bands exist as nothing: living science projects that embrace calculation over result, they remain forever all math and no magic.

The Raymond Brake, from Greensboro, NC, exist precariously in between these two extremes. They do not state facts or obscure them with detail, they infer. At their best they imply or divine and you, as listener, do the work to meet them in the middle at the perfect noise.

Piles of Dirty Winters is an incredible record. Not just for the huge variety of styles, running the gambit from catchy songs with hooks, to tragic songs with sadder hooks, to home-recorded country songs, to strange instrumentals, and even screaming indie-rockers (which it has). Nor is it just for the refreshing absence of all cliches-lyrical, musical, conceptual or any other sort (which they have avoided). The record is incredible simply because The Raymond Brake are a remarkable band.

There isn't anything easy about this music and yet it feels insidiously familiar. When your first hear a Raymond Brake song you may think you know where it is going, but more than likely, you will be surprised. And yet after you've heard this same song that tricked you 3 times in a row you'll find yourself incapable of imagining even one note differently. This is the very essence of great songwriting. The perfect mixture of freshness and familiarity. Not to mention that they aren't afraid of melody. Hey, don't worry. These boys grew up on the best of American math rock...Grifters, Polvo, Sonic Youth, even the "P"-word. If there's a strange tuning or rythym in the world they've tried it, but that doesn't mean you should get out your calculators. Melody is the glue in a Raymond Brake song and just because "sing" has become a four letter word in most of the rest of the indie-world, but that doesn't mean you won't find it here. The extremes of both musical innovation and simple melody co-exist with genuine depth but in a surprisingly catchy way.

The Raymond Brake are hard at work in school at the moment. They hope to be recording again soon, maybe over the Christmas break.

Send a message to The Raymond Brake

Or write to them at:
208 Wilson Street
Greensboro, NC 27401
USA

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