Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter will release Marble Son on August 2, 2011. Marble Son is the band’s fourth album and the first that was co-produced by Jesse Sykes and longtime bandmate, Phil Wandscher, along with engineer, Mell Dettmer. The band will be releasing the album through their own label, Station Grey Records, with distribution and marketing provided by Thirty Tigers/RED.
Though oft saddled with the "alt-country" tag, of late, Sykes and Co. have moved into slightly heavier and darker territories. Marble Son exemplifies a band at their creative pinnacle—heavier and more complex than previous records; the music resonates among the parallel worlds of the avant-garde and the timeless. Sykes’ voice and sometimes-mystical leanings and her band’s incomparable musical rapport, culminate in what the New York Times has described as “spellbound music, rapt in fatalism and sorrow.” Sykes’ trademark thematic darkness and acclaimed songwriting have never been more present; yet Marble Son speaks of evolution, which Sykes describes as, “a sonic mirror of the most chaotic, turbulent times of our lives, where beauty triumphed, and the tears that spilled became this record".
Marble Son is the sound of a band evolving personally and sonically — urgently expanding to mirror the chaos of modern culture, while not forgetting the seemingly hushed beauty of the past. The result is more relevant than ever and as Jesse puts it "we have never been closer to sounding like the sweet hereafter than with what we have created here."
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter are Jesse Sykes (vocals, guitars), Phil Wandscher (guitars, organ, moog, casio, lap steel, vocals), Bill Herzog (bass, vocals) and
Eric Eagle (drums, percussion, vocals).
The band will celebrate the release of Marble Son with a special show in Seattle on August 4th, and will be joined by special guests, The Sadies. That will be followed by a couple of performances at the Pickathon Festival in Portland, OR. More tour dates will be announced soon.
8/4 – Seattle @ The Showbox Theatre, w/ special guest The Sadies. Presented by KEXP.
8/5 – Bellingham @ Wild Buffalo, w/ The Sadies.
8/6 & 8/7 – Portland @ Pickathon Festival
