This is the first CD, I have put out. It's by Unfair Roots. The first time I saw this band, they were a drum and guitar duo that played broken drums and through 10 watt practice amps called Fair Root. I was really excited because Mikey had been in two of my favorite bands, Tunes For Bears to Dance To and Osceola. However, this was such a radical departure than anything I had heard from him before. Both he and Phoebe sang timidly into their mics and played their instruments much more quietly than I imagined they would be. Having been a band for only a couple of months, I thought of them as a promising band that I'd hoped to see again before too long.
A year and a half later, I saw them in a basement in North Carolina on their tour with Suis La Lune and Pala. At this point, they had evolved into a 4 piece band. They were playing through half-stacks, and were loud as hell. I was blown away by how much tighter they had gotten. In truth, I didn't even recognize a single song they played, even though they had claimed that they played some of those songs at that first show I saw them at.
When they got back from the tour, Mikey and Phoebe decided to lose the other two members they were playing with and to enlist Brendan from Perfect Future on the bass as well as to change their name from Fair Root to Unfair Roots to mark the change in personnel and style. This full-length debut showcases the dramatic shift. First off, this record is much more polished, while still retaining all the lo-fi, reverb drenched quality. Another change is that this album is markedly more fuzzed out and distorted. The drums pummel their way through the 13 tracks on a remarkably minimalist kit. The bass wander about the parts, both grounding and adding a dream like quality. Vocal melodys echo about as if they were coming from a cave off in the distance. And of course, the guitar work crunches and drives the songs from short pop-dance-alongs to long miserable mope-fests.
I'm excited to release this along with my friends in After Sweet Kiss Records. In fact, our versions of the album have a slight difference, to make them more collectible and to make nerds who collect (such as myself) sweat.
You can order this (and preorder the upcoming pf/list 12") here!
http://ltda.bigcartel.com/
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