Événement

Casey Neil and the Norway Rats

Casey Neill & The Norway Rats are set to release All You Pretty Vandals (Incident Recordings/Redeye), an anthemic, junkyard rock album Neill says he's "spent a decade trying to get to - both my own writing and the sound of the band." The Norway Rats are some of the most regarded musicians in Portland's music collective featuring various combinations of bassist Jesse Emerson (Amelia), guitarist Matt Brown (Storm Large), guitarist Chet Lyster (Eels), keyboardist Jenny Conlee-Drizos (Black Prairie, Decemberists) and drummer Joe Mengis (Priory). Casey Neill has left his impact on audiences while touring extensively with the band and in solo performance for more than a decade in the US, UK, and Japan.
"Be it through raucous rockers, fragile acoustic ballads, ragged country, passionate bursts of punk fury or soulful touches of Irish folk, Neill's narrative talent and concern for real people's struggles stand out. (Neill) evokes an epic feel that fits perfectly with the implicit grandiosity of this emotional material, delivered with a raspy, affectionate voice that recalls Life's Rich Pageant-era Michael Stipe. The results are so evocative, you'll be tempted to steep further in these memories, the better to share Casey Neill's particular blend of personal and historical experience." --- SPLENDID

Produced by Chris Funk (The Decemberists, Black Prairie), All You Pretty Vandals is a series of character sketches of people, and two cities dear to him, Portland and New York. The subject matter of the songs ranges from self-saboteurs (the title track), '70s New York underground culture ("She Came Alive"), a dark-pop adaptation of a Reverend Gary Davis composition ("Vanish Away"), and Portland rock history ("My Little Dark Rose"). The band recorded the basic tracks live in the studio to infuse an immediacy into the music. Overdubs were then layered on at Portland's Walker Studios former site of the legendary La Luna club's stage. Guests include Luz Elena Mendoza of Y La Bamba (vocals), Langhorne Slim (vocals), Lisa Molinaro of Talkdemonic (viola, vocals), Annalisa Tornfelt of Black Prairie (violin, vocals), and Scott McCaughey of Minus 5 and Young Fresh Fellows (vocals). All You Pretty Vandals is eleven originals with distinct narratives alongside gritty lyrical and instrumental hooks and marks the next chapter in the bright future of Casey Neill & The Norway Rats.

"Soul-searing songs" - UTNE READER