SARAH BETHE NELSON
ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM OH, EVOLUTION
ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM OH, EVOLUTION
SHARES ALBUM OPENER "HAZY"
PREMIERED VIA CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND
OH, EVOLUTION DUE FEBRUARY 24, 2017
ON BURGER RECORDS
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| Credit: Justin Frahm |
"The point of [Fast Moving Clouds] is in the ways Ms. Nelson makes the songs
gradually move from one definition to another, drawing your attention to its repetition or simplicity,
then expanding the context or otherwise defying your expectations." - The New York Times
"Fast-Moving Clouds benefits immensely from its mid-fi, almost homemade sound,
which lends weight to her inventive pop flourishes." - Pitchfork
"Fast-Moving Clouds is... full of striking realizations and vignettes
painted in expert strokes." - Stereogum
painted in expert strokes." - Stereogum
Burger Records is excited to announce Oh, Evolution, the sophomore album from San Francisco singer-songwriter Sarah Bethe Nelson. Her second full-length for the venerated Orange County label,Oh, Evolution will see a release on February 24, 2017. The first taste of the music comes in the form of album opener "Hazy," about which Consequence of Sound noted, "If Nelson doesn't seem much like the self-aggrandizing type in person, she's even more modest on record, preferring to let the listener search for the jewel of a melody at the center of each song. With "Hazy", that search is a pleasure." The track is available to stream or embed HERE, and Oh, Evolution is available for pre-order HERE.
The poet Frank O'Hara wrote, "Each time my heart is broken it makes me feel more adventurous." Think of the eight songs on Oh, Evolution, then, as the catchy beat from a '60s AM radio, driving along the sun-kissed California coast, where all sadness melts away into the ocean. You're on a road trip with Sarah Bethe Nelson, who's at the wheel, meditating on her adventures with Mission District drag queens, DIY garage rockers, beer-logged poets, and romantics. The top's down, you're feeling the warm wind across your face as you escape the claustrophobic anxiety of cosmopolitan life. It changes you; the vibrations give you clarity.
Since releasing her debut Fast-Moving Clouds on Burger Records last year, Nelson's kept her job as Mission District bartender. She's also been on the road with her band writing Oh, Evolution with her self-referential Polaroids of a local Bay Area "Sugar Factory" (a fuzzy romantic allegory, perhaps), or resolving existential turmoil with bratty simplicity, "I Don't Care," which deliciously blends '70s adult-contemporary with glossy indie-pop. Nelson's clear alto is the guiding light on the album's first track, the lead single, "Hazy," where her gorgeously detached vocals flicker over jangling guitars that sparkle as she says, "You were lying. And I was crying." The track showcases Nelson in her natural state on this record, where melancholic lyrics are glued onto a notebook covered in glitter and primary colors. It's a departure from Fast-Moving Clouds, where the songs were reminiscent of '90s "slowcore." There's the opposite effect, too, on the track "Sugar Factory," where the sweet nostalgia in her words are clouded by fuzzed-out guitars and a brooding beat.
Juxtapositions aside, thematically, Oh, Evolution is centered on pulling back the shades on the regularity and stagnation of adulthood. It's a musical exhale by Nelson who casts the light in different directions, from the Midwestern rootsiness of Sheryl Crow on "Bright Thing," to '60s girl-group elements on "Hazy." The two ballads, "Face the Waves" and "Deadbolt" are both intensely emotional songs that deal with loss and decaying romance. It's Nelson in her preferred state on a record that's both self-aware bubblegum, and a fistful of crumbled love letters. Oh, Evolution was recorded at San Francisco's El Studio and engineered by Phil Manley.
Oh, Evolution tracklist:
1. Hazy
2. Evolution
3. I Don't Care
4. Sugar Factory
5. Bright Thing
6. Face The Waves
7. Out Of My Reach
8. Deadbolt
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