The Darkness Dressed in Colored Lights by Sean Rowe
About half-way through the recording of Sean Rowe’s excellent new album, The Darkness Dressed in Colored Lights (Fluff & Gravy Records), he and producer Troy Pohl were taking a break. They were holed-up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, working at Brian Joseph’s studio, Hive, which is situated on a remote acreage of rolling green hills. While catching their breath, they noticed a minivan that had turned off of the rarely traveled road adjacent to the property and onto the grass, driving straight towards them. It pulled so close that it almost touched the picnic table. A stout and somewhat menacing man emerged, who did little to calm suspicions when he spoke.
“You ever been on TV?” he asked.
Rowe, thinking that’s exactly the kind of thing someone might say before murdering you, replied, “I actually have. Have you?”
“Yep, back in the early 90’s, I was on David Letterman twice.”
“Oh yeah, for what?”
“Stupid Human Tricks — I could pour two beers at once without using any of my appendages.”
Troy and Sean nodded in recognition and without another word, the man climbed back into his minivan and drove off. As he was pulling away, Brian Joseph came sprinting across the yard to see what was happening. They recounted the head-scratching tale of their brush with a minor celebrity and after some failed attempts to make sense of it, went back to the business of making a record.
A curious mind and a sense of adventure make for quite a collection of stories. Some, like this, play out over the course of a few minutes while others, more profound and complex, take years to untangle. Rowe, an artist and nomad at heart, has made himself into the perfect repository for volumes of every variety — hysterical, terrifying, heartbreaking, mystifying, and ridiculous — and on this record, he makes it clear that at some point it’s hard not to feel them all at once.
The Darkness Dressed in Colored Lights is ripe with both dimensions. It was produced by Rowe’s friend and longtime collaborator Troy Pohl, whom he has known since he was in his early twenties while Pohl was still a teen. The two grew into their professionalism together and here, they make the most of their combined ambition and experience.
The studio Hive in Eau Claire, Wisconsin was chosen so that they could work with the Grammy-winning engineer, Brian Joseph (Bon Iver) and for its proximity to a group of musicians that Sean came to admire while listening to Anna Tivel’s remarkable album, The Question, in his manager’s basement studio. That group includes drummer/percussionist, and producer Shane Leonard, along with Jeremy Boetcher on bass, and Ben Lester on keys and pedal steel. Courtney Hartman was flown from Colorado to provide background vocals and guitar. Chris Carey provided additional bass, while John DeHaven, Jeff Nania, and Joel Yannuzzi made up the album’s brass section.
Rowe’s admiration for Tivel’s album was not limited to its sonics. The Portland, Oregon label Fluff & Gravy Records, which has released all of Anna Tivel’s albums, is home to The Darkness Dressed in Colored Lights, which will be released on CD and double-vinyl, as well as available on all streaming services on October 8.
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