Search - Garlands :: Bedroom Music

Garlands entered Stratosphere Sound on the last day of summer and emerged on New Year's Day with their first long-player. Their most ambitious work to date, it is definitely an autumn record, all honey, wine, and melancholy. The recording reunited Garlands with old friends Gary Maurer and Andy Chase. Chase, who is part-owner of Stratosphere and a founding member of the band Ivy, has worked with Garlands in the past, mixing their previous release (picnic, lightning), which garnered wide praise from indie press and charted remarkably well on CMJ radio. For the new project, Maurer took the reigns as producer, engineer, whip-cracker, and love-giver. In addition to past efforts mixing and recording Garlands records, his impressive resume includes work with Luna, Cornershop, Fountains of Wayne, A Girl Called Eddy, and his own critically acclaimed band Hem. An old-school producer, Maurer is meticulous about getting every sound just right, from the lead vocal to the subtlest ambient background burbles. His production aesthetic was the perfect complement to the music, creating a gauzy dream world where even the fast songs feel mellow. The result may be the best bedroom record since the Velvet Underground's third.