Arizona appearing on woxy - Lounge Acts

Arizona is scheduled to play on woxy.com's Lounge Acts on Friday March 30 at 3:00pm. They archive their shows in case you miss it.

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Somersby by Arizona

So the following is a review of Somersby that I wrote for the two mirrors--way back in October of 2006. Ben was kind enough to give some great insight into this track. People, you gotta hear this song. I rant and rave for a long time, but just give me four minutes. And I swear you'll understand. And the artwork was done by Deems as he listened to Somersby. Read on...

Song Title: Somersby (MP3 )

Band: Arizona

Album: Welcome Back Dear Children

Time: 4:08

Somersby finds itself nuzzled in at track 10 on Welcome Back Dear Children and it follows Surviving the Savior which is a tough act to follow. However, it quickly proves itself as the highlight of this record. Somersby begins with a keyboard piece that according to Ben, “is some kind of vibraphone/Wurlitzer hybrid patch on a Yamaha keyboard.” This keyboard piece is crucial to the song, as it comes back in the end in a reinterpreted form as if to remind of where we began. After this intro keyboard, this “absolutely wild guitar orchestra” explodes to begin the story of Somersby. This explosion was the result of a “stream of consciousness style” that was suggested by Nick. In my humble opinion Nick’s most valuable suggestion was to “follow its form a little bit.” I truly believe that songs can take on a life of their own. And while I am not a musician myself, I certainly understand the power that a song can take on. Ben explains that the band began to feel like Somersby was about “a kamikaze deep space scientist who had reached the end of his wits and had set his space craft on a collision course for the sun.” If you can stay with this idea for a moment, in my mind, during this sound explosion you can envision the scientist freaking out and heading for the sun. At the conclusion of this explosion, the opening keyboards are reinterpreted and I can just see this scientist in slow motion heading for the sun as his life flashes before him. Ben let me know that, “The final ending is a reinterpretation of a riff I recorded 2 years ago at the same time I wrote the piano part, but I never intended the two to go together.” It’s rather interesting to me that the beginning and ending keyboard pieces were not written for the same track.

There are so many more layers to this song but one of the more interesting things that Ben shared with me was about the lyrics. He originally had many more lyrics to the song. However the line “Somersby, oh Somersby, a man with a thousand eye's can't see that all that I want... and all I must get... is everything that ain't happened to me yet,” is the line that is the focal point of the song. According to Ben, “it’s the only original vocal part that made it to the final song” I really like this idea that even the most visually astute person can’t see that you will eventually get everything you need in life. That little word yet is so powerful in this lyric.

And I think I would be doing a disservice to the musicians out there if I were to try and interpret what Arizona was doing technically. So here a few quotes from Ben about the technical aspects of Somersby and the entire Welcome Back Dear Children album.

The song starts off with a reversed sample of Danny Kadar dropping my Jamison 2x12 combo amplifier and causing its reverb tank to go haywire.

Another funny little piece of information about Somersby is that during the mix, either Alex (bassist/engineer) or Danny forgot to unmute the kick drum channel on the console (for the technical minded out there, WBDC was mixed on a super nice big format Neve console to tape) or something, because it was mixed to tape without a bass drum.

Alex actually had to go back and line up the original kick drum track to the master and blend it in before the CD could be duplicated. So if you really listen, you can hear the kick is separated from everything else just a bit.

Also, I hope to do a sequel to Somersby one day- Arizona has a lot of "character" songs, like Jubilee, David, Sylvester Wheat vs. Finneas B, and I think it would be fun one day to do a song or an album that was all about the goings on of these characters.

Somersby is a great example of how the drums got done on Welcome Back Dear Children. The majority of the song is played by Nick on drums, but that very ending part is played by Alex. A lot of the drums on WBDC are hybrid performances with Nick playing most of it with Alex adding his touches in key parts.

New/Unreleased Arizona song courtesy of Shifted Sound

Shifted Sound recently played a new/unreleased song from Arizona entitled Thimble. This podcast also contains an interview with Zak from A Better Offer, so you can get some more insight on what our blog is all about.

Click here for the Enhanced Edition for iPod/iTunes.
Click here for the MP3 version of the podcast.

Also, check out an older Shifted Sound podcast (#23) for more music and an interview with Arizona.

Click here for the Enhanced Edition for iPod/iTunes.
Click here for the MP3 version of the podcast.

We highly recommend subscribing to the Shifted Sound podcast. Click on the link below to subscribe via iTunes. IT'S FREE!!!!

Splintering Live in St. Augustine

Splintering by Arizona
Uploaded by thetwomirrors

So this is the clip of Arizona performing "Splintering" when we saw them in St. Augustine. This is the last track they played during their set. Just watch and see how wonderful this band is. There is not much more I can say here. Just watch.**

**While the clip may be a little blurry and dark at times, I think you'll get the point. GO SEE THEM LIVE WHILE YOU CAN!

Pant + Whisper video

Check out the video for Pant + Whisper. The track comes from Arizona's first EP--The Sun and The Room. Which by the way you should get your hands on pretty quickly because if it's not gone yet, it will be soon. The boys from Arizona did not make this video--it was done by a fan. But it provides an exceptionally accurate depiction of the song. There is an image about halfway through where there is a close up on her lips--and it is simply unforgettable. The blurred imagery is just exactly what you'd expect to visually tell the story of the song. So do yourself a favor and press play and enjoy the music and the images.






ARIZONA // Pant + whisper
Uploaded by theyoungfrancis

Video was directed by The Young Francis and Dr. Breint (edited 4/6/07)

Arizona's tour

So do whatever you can to get out and check out Arizona's tour. My wife and I caught them in St. Augustine on March 10th (the other mirror was there too). They opened for Band of Horses which was both good and bad. The good--The room was packed for the Arizona show. The bad--They were the opening act so they only played about 9 songs. It was still well worth the trip. They are playing mostly stuff from Welcome Back Dear Children, but they did play two new tracks (Streetsweeper--from their upcoming EP, and Asheville--from a movie they scored). The guys are extremely friendly and put on an amazing and energetic show. They have great shirts for sale and a listening station set up if you want to hear the record before you purchase it. Check them out! P.O. Zak

Mar 20 2007
8:00P
Casablanca
Phoenix, Arizona

Mar 24 2007
9:00P
Hodi's Half Note w/ Carey Ott
Fort Collins, Colorado

Mar 25 2007
8:00P
Saddle Creek Bar
Omaha, Nebraska

Mar 26 2007
11:00P
Big V's
St. Paul, Minnesota

Mar 27 2007
3:00P
103.3FM KUMD - Live on air
Duluth, Minnesota

Mar 27 2007
10:00P
Univ. of MN Duluth Rafters w/ The Brushstrokes
Duluth, Minnesota

Mar 28 2007
8:00P
The Dry Bean (Free Show!)
Madison, Wisconsin

Mar 29 2007
8:00P
The Hideout
Chicago, Illinois

Mar 30 2007
7:00P
WOXY Lounge Acts
Cincinnati, Ohio

Mar 30 2007
8:00P
Dirty Jacks
Cincinnati, Ohio

Mar 31 2007
10:30P
The Basement
Columbus, Ohio

Apr 18 2007
10:00P
The Annex - NYC Homecoming show, wear a tux/ball gown!!
New York, New York

May 5 2007
8:00P
Luna Lounge
Brooklyn (Williamsburg), New York

(Picture from left, Ben, vocals and guitar, Zak, from a better offer, Nick, vocals and guitar, Andrew, keys and guitar)

Arizona's Welcome Back Dear Children

***This review was originally published at The Two Mirrors in August of 06. I have added a few additional comments noted at the bottom.

So I thought I’d treat this record right and give it a proper review. RD turned me on to this band about a month ago and I clearly remember my first reaction. As I listened I thought… this band has something special. I remember listening thinking that in a year I’d remember the first time I heard them and smile. It reminded me of the first time I listened to The Arcade Fire, The Decemberists, Broken Social Scene, and Bright Eyes. It’s like I could tell that someday soon I would get it. Don’t get me wrong I don’t think Arizona necessarily sounds like any of those bands above, but I just felt I was listening to something new and fresh that would undoubtedly be part of my current listening for a long time. Having said that I heard Welcome Back Dear Children in its entirety last night and here are my early reactions.

The album starts with Te Amo Tanto, a dreamy pop song that provides a nice backdrop to the record. It leads straight into Some Kind of Chill—a track we’ve all been listening to non stop for over a month. It’s interesting to hear it in the context of the whole album. I still get chills when he sings, “It’s gone looking for space, as people all will, until they get to that place…” Track three provides quite the surprise in Away. I am certain that this song will have that same feel that Some Kind of Chill provides after repeated listens. The album continues its wistful pop feel through Diventa Blue and that leads us to the standout. Splintering is the track that sold me on this band when I first heard them. The rock in this track sells it and it’s the first time on the record that they veer from that dreamy pop feel that you were just getting comfortable with. Just when you get comfortable there, Arizona take you on another little detour with Old Man With a Bad Back Climbing up a Staircase and David. These two tracks are oriented around a piano and are just straight up good indie pop. The later is a little more pop than Old Man… but they both have pretty fantastic moments. Now Waking Up is just a short little ballad centering on an acoustic guitar that even has a little Wilco flair to it. Surviving the Savior fits nicely at track 9 because it sort of weaves itself through the musical moments that have presented themselves so far on this record. You have the acoustic guitar, that amazing voice, and a good bit of rocking at the end. Somersby is a great little song that is most similar to Splintering if you liked that track. It’s got some nice oh ohs in it and it’s got a got bit of rocking in its soul. The drums on this track are really amazing. Now I’m no drum expert, but they just seem to stand out to me on this song. Stay With Who You Know finds itself at track 11 and it seems to be the song that I’m struggling to fit into the context of the record. It’s a good song, but I can’t seem to put it into context yet. Don’t get me wrong, I have only listened 5 times or so, and I’m sure I’ll make some sense of it soon. It just has a completely different feel to it. And at 4:43 it clocks in as the longest song on the cd. Through the Soot and On Judgment Day close out this record in the same dreamy style that began it.

Overall, I am completely and utterly impressed by Arizona. The fact that this is their debut record just amazes me. It seems that there are a very few bands in my extensive library that have created such beautiful music on their debut record. I hope that you all take my advice and go to itunes and buy Welcome Back Dear Children soon. I assure you that these guys are on the brink of success and you’ll be glad you were along for the ride.

Notes from eight months later...I still think that this was by far the best record I heard last year. That's right, it was my number one record of 2006. The only real addition I would add would be the brillance of Somersby (full review of that track and MP3 coming soon). And I would also like to note that Te Amo Tanto is one of the best opening tracks around. I strongly encourage you to purchase this record (if you have not done so already). And I would suggest you buy an actual copy. The artwork is done by Deems and it is just super. Deems listened to the record while he did the artwork. It doesn't get much better than that.

Purchase Welcome Back Dear Children via Insound.com

Purchase Welcome Back Dear Children via cdbaby

Purchase Welcome Back Dear Childen via ITunes

However you choose to do so, just buy it.

And to hear some Arizona--download the latest shifted sound podcast, that Shelby was kind enought to let me co-host!