Bell Horses

Bell Horses
This Loves Last Time
Trysquare
Release Date : October 13, 2009

PRESS RELEASE:

Xian Hawkins (Silver Apples, Sybarite) collaborates with Jenny Owen Youngs to form Bell Horses. Their debut album, This Loves Last Time, is out on October 13.

Bell Horses debut album is an emotionally complex, experimentally inclined pop outing that leaves a mark well beyond it’s relatively short duration. These 8 songs work together to create a world of contrasts that defy easy categorization. Offering up something both challenging and familiar - each song is notably distinct from the last. The arrangements blend acoustic instruments (guitars, piano, strings, percussion) with
synthetic textures and samples - vocals sit up front in the mix but then often double as instruments themselves. The subtle attention to detail reveals more with each listen. This Loves Last Time is a record about the infinite and the finite – things that cease to be but linger all the same.

The name Bell Horses is taken from a turn of the century children’s song about horses passing in the night, strung with bells so as not to collide. It’s an apt analogy for the working methods of this group whose members all live in different cities. Instrumental and vocals tracks were emailed back and forth taking the creative process on an indirect route. Various parts of the album were tracked in Brooklyn, Berlin & London – with the majority of the music being recorded, arranged & mixed by Xian Hawkins in a converted Victorian Church in Western Mass. This Loves Last Time succeeds as it becomes more than the sum of the individuals involved – all of whom have projects of their own.

Xian Hawkins records as Sybarite - making distinct & lauded electronica for a variety of labels - most notably 4AD, Temporary Residence & Ghostly International. His music has been featured in film & television (Grey’s Anatomy). Jenny Owen Youngs is a singer songwriter who signed to Nettwerk Records in 2006 and recently released her sophomore record, Transistor Failure, to critical acclaim. Also on the album is Alexander Ericson, contributing vocals to three of the tracks. He was the lead singer in Swedish alt-rock band The Northern Territories & has gone on to play with Alberta Cross (ATO) & make solo records under his own name.

Other participants include Michael Lerner, drummer for NYC band The Antlers (Frenchkiss), who adds additional percussion to the songs Still Life & The Comb. Classical string player Eve Boltax brought her violin & viola talents to much of the album while Dan Romer, Jenny’s chief collaborator on her own records, recorded & engineered all of her vocal contributions. This Loves Last Time was mastered by Denis Blackham (Brian Eno, Cocteau Twins) at Skye Mastering in Scotland.

UK artist Rick Myers designed the sleeve - he has done covers for the likes of Doves, Dinosaur Jr. & John Cale, among others. Photographs were taken by California artist Noele Lusano. The album is the first release on the band’s own Trysquare label.


Tracklist:

1. Still Life
2. Small Hours
3. Headmess
4. Billowing
5. The Comb
6. Photograph
7. The Storm
8. Dust Of Us