One of Us, the third full-length album from Pomegranates, will be released on October 14th by Afternoon Records. The band co-produced the album with TJ Lipple of Aloha (MGMT, Headlights, Minus Story), who also mixed and mastered. Over The Rhine’s Ric Hordinski (David Wilcox, Phil Keaggy) engineered several tracks. See below for a complete track listing. Pomegranates will kick off a U.S. tour with Colour Revolt on September 15th and perform at the 2010 CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival on October 21st and 22nd. (See below for itinerary.)
Formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2006, the young indie band quickly distinguished itself with its mesmerizing art-pop compositions, eliciting acclaim from My Old Kentucky Blog (“Sweet, sweet sounds are pop honey to my ears”), massive support from WOXY.com and invitations to tour from bands such as French Kicks, Islands and Jimmy Eat World. Pomegranates’ 2008 full-length debut, Everything Is Alive, was hailed as “shimmering” by Spin, which noted: “the 11-track collection shows a youthful, open-eared quartet enlivened with a kick-ass record collection, ceiling-less imagination, ragged guitars, and songwriting chops for days.”
The concept album Everybody, Come Outside! followed in 2009, prompting Daytrotter.com to observe: “Pomegranates is a band that already, over the course of two records, has shown itself to be of the highest ambition and they’ve already successfully executed some wonderful maneuvers, tightening a sound that is still mostly delightful experimentation…to create something that really does border on true elegance.” While at SXSW earlier this year, Pomegranates were named the band with the “best shot at the big time”by Spin and were interviewed by The BBC’s Radio 1, which subsequently played a track off of Everybody, Come Outside!
With One of Us, Pomegranates continue to broaden their sonic palette, employing strings for the first time (on the epic “The Positive Light”) and experimenting with instrumentation throughout to conjure up what they describe as “weird fever dream-type sounds.”
The title track’s idyllic introduction quickly gives way to propulsive drums and an indelible guitar line, building to an exhilarating crescendo as Joey Cook and Isaac Karns (who trade off on vocals throughout the album) chant “I dreamed I saw you” and the song dissolves as quietly as it began. This kind of exquisitely organic ebb and flow permeates the album. The raucous rave-up “Prouncer,” the album’s lead single, is bookended by “White Fawn,” as sparse and evocative as a haiku, and the ethereal instrumental “Perception.” “Anywhere You Go” grows in intensity, eventually spiraling out of control and sounding like a 33 1/3 rpm record played at 78 rpm while the hymn-like vocals of album closer “Into the Water, Into the Air” are layered over the jittery sound of a xiosynth run through a Harden Swaami (Fuzz/tremolo) into a Silvertone organ amp.
Pomegranates – comprising Joey Cook (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Isaac Karns (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Jacob Merritt (drums) and Dan Lyon (guitars) – will complete their current summer tour with a performance at A.R.M. Fest in Kent, OH. The festival will benefit Anonymous Relief Mission, a non-profit organization based in Kent that assists people in transitional situations of their lives.
ONE OF US – TRACK LISTING
1. One of Us
2. 50’s
3. White Fawn
4. Prouncer
5. Perception
6. Create Your Own Reality
7. Anywhere You Go
8. Between Two Dreams
9. The Positive Light
10. Demond
11. Venus
12. Skull Cakin’
13. Into the Water, Into the Air
Pomegranates – Upcoming Tour Dates
7/22 Madison, WI Memorial Union Terrace
7/23 Chicago, IL Schubas
7/24 Minneapolis, MN Ballentine Hall w/One For The Team &
We All Have Hooks for Hands
7/26 Ft. Wayne, IN The Dash-In
7/27 Interlochen, MI Interlochen Center for the Arts w/Cloud Cult
7/28 Pontiac, MI The Crofoot
7/29 Cleveland, OH Beachland Ballroom w/Blitzen Trapper
7/30 Kent, OH A.R.M. Fest
With Colour Revolt:
9/15 Cleveland, OH Case Western Reserve University
9/16 Grand Rapids, MI Calvin College
9/17 Chicago, IL Schubas
9/18 Madison, WI University of Wisconsin
9/21 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry
9/22 Iowa City, IA Blue Moose Lodge
9/23 St. Louis, MO Firebird
CMJ:
10/21 New York, NY Venue TBD
10/22 New York, NY The Rock Shop
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