Rabid In The Kennel Blog
Edward Rogers & The Seldon Plan in session today
Edward Rogers
On his new CD, Sparkle Lane, Edward Rogers presents a sublimely crafted, emotionally resonant song cycle, channeling his lifelong passion for vintage jangle-pop, folk-rock and psychedelia into personally charged, sonically distinctive music that’s both deeply expressive and effortlessly accessible.
The album—Rogers’ third solo effort, and his second for the independent Zip label—is the acclaimed pop auteur’s most ambitious and accomplished work yet, with 14 original compositions that seamlessly merge hard-won lyrical insight with a lifetime’s worth of classic pop influences.
“Sparkle Lane is a street in England where my grandmother lived,” Rogers explains. “The concrete was mixed with pieces of broken glass, so when I was a kid and I’d go to my grandmother’s house in the evening, the street would always look like it was sparkling. That’s how life felt to me as a kid. And there was so much going on in England at the time; the music scene was happening and London was swinging, so England was where I wanted to be. So when I got to America, it was a major culture shock. The food and TV were a lot better, but I still felt uprooted.”
It wasn’t long before Rogers embraced the energy of his new hometown’s musical community, playing drums in a series of local bands. He was temporarily sidelined by a debilitating accident, but emerged from that experience with a strengthened creative resolve, determined to make music on his own terms. He relaunched his musical career with pair of albums as a member of the folk-pop foursome Green Rooftops, before unveiling an unmistakably personal songwriting vision on the solo releases Sunday Fables and You Haven’t Been Where I’ve Been. He also released a pair of albums, Rendezvous and The Summer That Changed, as part of Bedsit Poets, a collaboration with noted singer/songwriter (and fellow English expat) Amanda Thorpe.
While Sunday Fables and You Haven’t Been Where I’ve Been featured musical contributions from such notable friends as Byrds founder Roger McGuinn, Zombies members Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone, and The Church‘s Marty Willson-Piper, high-profile guest stars are conspicuous in their absence from Sparkle Lane. And where his prior releases found Rogers co-writing with noted New York tunesmith George Usher, Sparkle Lane was largely penned by Rogers on his own.
“This record is a lot more me than anything I’ve done before, because of the nature of the songs and because of the way it was recorded,” Rogers notes. “That was intentional. It was important to me to push myself forward a little bit more. I wrote most of these songs on my own, and I really focused on getting them to be exactly what I wanted them to be.”
Visit Edward Rogers official web site
The Seldon Plan
The Seldon Plan reemerges with whimsy with their highly anticipated album Lost And Found And Lost, a worthy follow-up to their 2007 record The Collective Now. Praised for its “catchy simple melodies awash with lush vocals, hip full guitars, and a hint of Flaming Lips“ by artist/composer Mark Degli Antoni (David Byrne/Soul Coughing) and dubbed “smart pop with no wasted space” by record producer Brian McTernan (Senses Fail/Piebald/Thrice), Lost And Found And Lost plays with images of childhood nostalgia to embrace the economic and political pendulum.
The Baltimore-based indie pop rockers are known for their “tuneful-wistful rock” (The Washington Post) and “literate, yet still youthful” (Allmusic) sound. Aptly named, Lost And Found And Lost portrays the juxtaposition of excitement and uncertainty in a country undergoing a changing political situation. “These were the hardest lyrics I’ve ever had to write, but now that they’re out, I feel really energized,” says singer/songwriter Michael Nestor.
Calling their latest LP “a burst of new flavor”, The Big Takeover‘s Jack Rabid expressed delight at the “Baltimore foursome’s continued maturation” and compared it favorably to “melodic pop favorites such as Feelies‘ offshoot Wild Carnation, Winnipeg’s wonderful Weakerthans, great Scots Camera Obscura, and Portland’s Dimes.”
The Seldon Plan spent the last few years taking on a busy tour schedule—including shows with Explosions in the Sky, The Stills, Now It’s Overhead, The Octopus Project, The Eames Era and Matt Pond PA. The band regrouped in 2008 and entered the studio with a fresh organic approach as a way of rediscovering who they were as a band. With few preconceived songs, much of the album was written in the studio, allowing the record to grow naturally as a whole. Simple focused melodies are textured by intricate harmonies, layered with soulful instrumentation including cello and trumpet, and punctuated by bright choral interludes.
The band’s sophomore effort The Collective Now was quickly named a top 40 record of 2007 by The Big Takeover and one of the “Best Baltimore albums of 2007 by The Baltimore Sun. Tracks from the album were licensed by the massively popular YouTube series lonlygirl15 and by Simplify Media for its top-rated music-streaming iPhone app. Their debut album Making Circles was featured on NPR’s “All Songs Considered.” The Seldon Plan is likened to established alt rockers Death Cab for Cutie, The Posies and Nada Surf.
After a successful East Coast tour which saw them take the stage again with The Octopus Project and Hammer No More The Fingers, The Seldon Plan is back in the studio working on a “concept EP” titled Nuit Americain.
