Band: Whale Fall
Album: The Madrean
Label: Self Released
Year: 2014
Tracklist
01. The Dawn Thief
02. I Shall Sail No More (No More Shall I Sail)
03. Tahquitz
04. On River, On Route
05. El Pistolero
06. Overpass LA
07. Heart Space
08. The Madrean
Streaming
Whale Fall is an instrumental rock band based in Los Angeles, California. Formed in 2008, the five member group, whose name derives from the biologic process by which a decaying whale carcass spawns a new sea life community, quickly established a dedicated fan base who embraced the band's dynamic live sound, leading to the recording of their eponymous debut album, a vinyl double LP self-released in 2011. In addition to live performances, recordings, and an expanding online presence, the group's music is reaching new audiences with the inclusion of two Whale Fall tracks in the award-winning documentary Code Black, currently in wide release. This cinematic foray complements the numerous soundtrack credits attributable to the fivesome’s past projects, including The X-Files, Kiss of Death (1995), Up in the Air (2009), promotional trailers for The Help (2011), and several independent films.
Whale Fall's sound stems from a wide range of musical influences, from shoegaze to experimental rock to Ennio Morricone cinematic fare to the echoes of border town Americana replete with mariachi horns. Add to this mix the visuo-narrative influences of the group's external surroundings in the American West, the cultural milieu of Los Angeles, and the internal landscapes of their individual imaginations. This is the very concoction that gave rise to the band's second album, titled The Madrean, a collection of eight thematically linked compositions paying homage to the Madrean region of North America, the arid landmass spanning the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. With band members having spent their respective formative years in Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and California, the Madrean Region is an inescapable internal and external space for Whale Fall, and the intersection of its urban and natural environs—from L.A. freeway overpasses to majestic Sierra peaks—serve as both the backdrop and the foreground of the music of The Madrean as well as the accompanying visual imagery.
On this, Whale Fall's sophomore offering, the band's live ensemble of traditional rock instrumentation augmented by trumpet and piano is further expanded with the addition of saxophone and cello. The interplay between Ali Vazin's ethereal guitar swells and Dave Pomeranz's raw six-string tones suggests the vast desert sky overhanging stark and rugged terrain, with J-Matt Greenberg's trumpet and keyboard flourishes providing the flora and fauna, all supported by the tectonic framework of Erik Tokle's gliding bass and Aaron Farinelli's foundational percussion. Guest instrumentalists Joseph Santa Maria on saxophone and Artyom Manukyan on cello conjure the few rivers and streams that course through this arid landscape. Recorded and mixed alongside the taco trucks and bodegas of Highland Park in northeast Los Angeles, the music of The Madrean centers its urban origins in an awareness of its encapsulation between the Pacific Ocean and San Gabriel Mountains. This sonically invoked imagery is visually reinforced by the beautiful artwork created by Emmy award-winning designer Jordan Wayne Lee. Whale Fall is very proud to present this new incarnation of a timeless character, The Madrean, to both the denizens of the Madrean Region and the world at large.
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![Album Cover](https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2004055548_10.jpg")
![Album Cover](https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3908647420_10.jpg")
![Album Cover](https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0968664813_10.jpg")
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