First Listen: StaG – “Rifle Meeker”.
May 18, 2011, 0 comments
Comprising wide arching harmonies that owe a lot to Fleet Foxes or Panda Bear, airy arrangements leaving a lot of space for the songs’ breathtaking melodies to unfold, and an irresistible feeling for compositional suspense, StaG‘s full-length Rifle Meeker is among the biggest and most pleasant surprises we’ve come across in 2011 so far. Without stirring up any dust, the Boulder, Colorado via LA duo consisting of Matt McGuire and Will Walden has delivered a debut which is flawless to a degree that’s almost scary.
Apparently the result of a year of confusion and forlornness after the relocation to the landlocked state – Rifle Meeker is about living in a city I didn’t think was right for me. It’s about missing California and feeling like I was stuck along the seventeen-hour drive between Boulder and Calabasas, CA, constantly seeing road signs for places like Rifle, CO and Meeker, CO – the album feels like a very personal, almost intimate piece of art, at times exposing an intensity of emotion that we’ve last encountered listening to Hospice, even though the respective contexts might be essentially different. A marvelous, completely unanticipated record.
Get Rifle Meeker now for pay-what-you-want over at bandcamp.
Photograph “untitled” by Florian Reischauer.
buy this print! 15x15cm | 30x30cm
Starting today, NFOP photo artist Florian has a little exhibition showing some of his marvelous Pieces of Berlin prints at fenster61, Torstraße 61, Mitte, running until June 14. Have a look if you stop by.
