| Photo Cred: Graham Tolbert |
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LISTEN & SHARE: Har Mar Superstar - "Another Century" (ft. Kam Franklin & Jackie Venson)Soundcloud / Bandcamp LISTEN & SHARE: Har Mar Superstar - "Where We Began"Stream |
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"A lush, soulful style."
- Brooklyn Vegan
"Infectious ’70s soft pop and brass-assisted jams of artists like Elton John, Carole King, Todd Rundgren, and more"
- The AV Club |
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Today, Har Mar Superstar shares "Another Century" off his upcoming LP featuring Kam Franklin and Jackie Venson. Roseville is out March 5th. Brooklyn Vegan premiered the track, praising its "lush, soulful style." The album's limited edition vinyl and casettes are available for pre-order.
I had the pleasure of meeting Jackie Venson through Sabrina Ellis when we were first starting Heart Bones. Jackie was gracious enough to play bass with us at our first gigs in Texas. I was completely blown away when I came to our backstage in San Antonio to find her live streaming a solo guitar performance for her fans that was utterly mind melting and oozing with technical wizardry and personality for days. Not too long after that we met Kam Franklin when her killer band, The Suffers (Houston, TX), supported our big, final performance of the Dirty Dancing soundtrack at home in Minneapolis at First Ave. Their set was a big band soul odyssey that I was floored by, and Kam's voice filled the room with ease while I watched her win over the sold out 1500 person crowd like she'd known each of them personally her whole life. Her kind of stage presence is what made me want to be a musician my whole life, and I was beaming from side stage.
Earlier this year I was tweeting about my excitement at how the album, Roseville, was coming together and both Kam and Jackie started a thread saying they wanted to throw down on a track, and I had just the one. "Another Century" had started as a jam in the studio room (pre-COVID) with my bandmates Aaron Baum, Ryan Mach, and Adam Hurlburt. The song was cool, but it needed something more that I couldn't quite put my finger. Kam and Jackie came calling like lightning rods from the heavens, and I knew they were the two for the job of making this song live up to the potential it had. Kam refined, rewrote, and sang the first verse and add to the choruses with confidence and quickness that needed no revision or editing. Jackie had the vibe in her pocket right away, and if anything we underused her monstrous talents because I could listen to her shred over the whole thing on loop all day. The song was made whole by my new friends/members of this growing musical family, and I couldn't be more proud to share it with the world. I am a lucky person surrounded by so many talented friends.
-Sean Tillmann (Har Mar Superstar)
Welcome to Roseville, the 7th studio album by Har Mar Superstar. Sean Tillmann’s latest collection of songs is career defining culmination of life and musical experiences that were heavily influenced by 70s AM gold artists including Todd Rundgren, Elton John, Carole King, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Genesis, Hall and Oates, Meat Loaf, Dory Previn, and ELO. The album came together in the late months of 2020 and is the first true collaborative effort of the whole touring band. It was distance recorded by all of the members in their home studios and the band’s home base, Mid City Studio, in Minneapolis. It has been described as an “existential homecoming” that chronicles Tillmann’s return to life as a Minnesotan over the last 5 years.
Most of the album was produced by bandmates Aaron Baum and Ryan Mach. John Fields (Jonas Brothers, Andrew WK, Har Mar’s 2004 album “The Handler”) returned to Team Har Mar producing “Solid Ghost” and “Hearts Have Misspoken”, and Ryan Olson (Poliça, Gayngs, Swamp Dogg) dropped in to produce “Patchwork Prisms”. Texas musical legends in the making Kam Franklin (The Suffers) and Jackie Venson (one of the greatest guitarists alive) popped by to elevate “Another Century” into a soul duet masterpiece. Denver Dalley (Desaparecidos) and T. Macey Taylor (Bright Eyes, Jenny Lewis, Amanda Shires) appear on “Where We Began” which they helped write on the road while supporting Afghan Whigs a few years back. The band is Nelson Devereaux, Jake Baldwin, Adam Hurlburt, Ethan Elseth, Aaron Baum, and Ryan Mach, and everyone had a hand in co-writing to help make this album a united, genre hopping masterpiece.
The whole album is a cohesive journey designed to be listened to front to back, but each track is strong enough to stand on its own. |
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Roseville LP - TRACKLISTING
01. Solid Ghost
02. Where We Began
03. Another Century (feat. Kam Franklin & Jackie Venson)
04. Hello, Mr. Sandman
05. Sleight Of Hand
06. Patchwork Prisms
07. Neon Aglow
08. Hearts Have Misspoken
09. Burn The Page
10. Hit And Run
11. You're Not Alone |
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Har Mar Superstar Bio
Har Mar Superstar started as a solo, modern pop R & B side project for Sean Tillmann in 1999. Hailing from the Twin Cities, Tillmann quickly gained notoriety worldwide for boisterous, sweaty live shows that often ended disrobed down to a pair of briefs while managing to create a balance of trust and nervous energy from unsuspecting crowds. He toured the world priding himself being an “artist’s artist” championed by his peers The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gossip, Father John Misty, and The Faint among others who repeatedly selected him as a main support opening act. Lizzo even joined the band for a few tours.
As Tillmann’s songwriting grew stronger the shtick began to fade and gave way to more honesty in his albums and live performances as the band grew in grew in size, volume, and restraint. Everything really came together with the release of Har Mar’s landmark classic soul album Bye Bye 17 in 2013, and he was finally, solidly gaining his own audience globally as an artist through a non-stop tour schedule that continued through his most recent album, Best Summer Ever. By 2016 the band had grown into an unstoppable 7-piece behemoth famous as much for their entertainment sweat equity as they were for their ability to seamlessly morph through sets of widely varying styles, energy, and raw emotion.
The band has been playing together for years, and now in 2021 the line up has settled into a full on collaboration of trust that can conquer just about any genre they put their minds too. That is the charm of Har Mar Superstar. You never know what you’re going to get, but they always pull it off with a style that’s all their own. It’s a greatest hits set every night culling from years of output and experimentation by Tillmann, Aaron Baum (synths, vocals), Ryan Mach (drums), Nelson Devereaux (sax, synths, vocals), Jake Baldwin (trumpet, synths, vocals), Adam Hurlburt (bass), and Ethan Elseth (guitar).
After living in London, LA, and Brooklyn for 14 years, Tillmann is back living in Minneapolis and proud to call it home. The new album, Roseville, is a love letter to the community, artists, and family that drew him back and the experiences he had along the way. |
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