SANDUSKY, Ohio (Top40 Charts/ Green Light Go Entertainment) Behind the sunniest sounding song, a dark story often lurks. Take The Sewing Circle's "Lead Role", an anthemic rocker with a shoutable hook, for instance. Songwriter and co-lead vocalist Meghan
Blake got her inspiration from the 2008 Clint Eastwood-directed Changeling, a film based on real events. "I couldn't fall asleep after the movie was off. It especially bothered me because the movie was based on a true story about the Wineville Chicken Coop murders in the 1920s," says Blake. "That made me think of other things that I hear on the news or read online that affect me in the same way. So, "Lead Role" was inspired by that and the notion that even though people might not want to hear the awful things on the news that they still happen." "Lead Role" opens The Sewing Circle's second album, I Saw Stars, with a barrage of distorted guitar and Cajon Keeton's powerful drumming. The mp3 is now available for download: https://glgpub.com/file_download/118/The-Sewing-Cirlce_Lead-Role.mp3
In an industry where new genres are cropping up all the time, Ohio's The Sewing Circle surfs and jumps old and new classifications with exuberance. The band enlisted the help of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin producer, Jonathan James, to produce their second albumI Saw Stars whose six tracks capture the band's expansive style. The imaginative I Saw Stars will be released May 10.
In December of 2009, The Sewing Circle traveled to Springfield, Mo. to record with James and Ryan Spilken. "We did a lot of pre-production via e-mail," co-lead vocalist and songwriter Andrew Rohde explains. "We sent MP3s to them, incorporating their suggestions as we rearranged the songs." After three months of pre-production, the trio of Meghan Blake (co-lead vocalist/songwriter), Rohde and drummer Cajon Keeton, went into the studio to cut I Saw Stars.
What came into being is a lively set of songs that gives the listener a taste of The Sewing Circle's range of styles. The edgy "Five Cigarettes" rides a carefree Bo Diddley rhythm and pokes fun at the desire for fame that afflicts so many people. "I reference Kurt Cobain specifically," Rohde says, "but it's an ironic comment on all of rock's fallen heroes." The final track, "Until Now," a song of loss and longing, closes the EP on a quiet note, with Blake's vulnerable vocal supported by cello, acoustic guitar and piano. The combination of the band's down to earth vocals, sharp songwriting and the dramatic flourishes of Rohde's electric guitar and Keeton's propulsive drumming, anchors the songs to the earth, even as they soar to the stars.
The band's debut, The Sewing Circle, was praised for its joyful melodies, inventive arrangements that blended rock, folk and roots music and the stunning harmonies of Blake and Rohde. It was produced by Jim Diamond (The White Stripes, Von Bondies, Mooney Suzuki), at Ghetto Recorders in Detroit, Mich.
I Saw Stars Track Listing
1. Lead Role
2. So As In Salem
3. Love Games
4. Buzz Light-Year
5. Five Cigarettes
6. Until Now
Praise for The Sewing Circle
"Range from...indie rock acts such as Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley and Zia McCabe of The Dandy Warhols to the dark, grungy, angsty sounds of Nirvana." -Ashley Bethard, Funcoast.com
"With The Sewing Circle's bouncy AlternaPop effervescence, slyly obvious-yet-obtuse lyrical content and guy/girl vocal harmonies, it's easy to think of The New Pornographers."
"When the trio slows down to an acoustic crawl, it's easy to think of Neko Case's solo output. And when it Punks up the joint, it's easy to think of X's glory days."
"But after spinning the band's eponymous debut and new album, I See Stars, it's easy to think of The Sewing Circle as a great band on its own merits." -City Beat
"Great guitar crunch, acoustic quietude, exquisite harmonies, manic-to-moody melodies, reflective-to-intrusive lyrics, a dedication to good music in whatever form it leaks out of them at the moment." -City Beat
