Son of the Velvet Rat
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Dorado
After years of finding inspiration in the California desert, Son of the Velvet Rat (SotVR) chose in 2013 to leave behind their impressive band history in Austria, with 5 albums to their credit, and make their home in Joshua Tree. This new endeavor finds the two commuting between the anonymous wasteland of Los Angeles and the fierce but fragile beauty of the high desert, reinventing their creative sphere in a completely different artistic environment. There’s a certain strangeness in their music and sound, with its origins woven deeply in the cultural heritage of the European folk-noir and chanson traditions, and it certainly strikes a chord in all who know the grounding force of gravity and still like to dance on the tightrope.
The band celebrates their new home with the release of their sixth album Dorado – a golden treasure of desert-inspired tracks produced by the critically acclaimed songwriter and producer, Joe Henry. Featuring Jay Bellerose on drums and percussion (Alan Toussaint, BB King, Rodney Crowell), David Piltch on bass (KD Lang, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt) and guest vocals from Victoria Williams, the album will debut internationally on February 17th, 2017 with a dual release by Fluff & Gravy (CDs and Vinyl) and Mint 400 (Digital Distribution).
“Dorado was recorded quickly over just a few days, and it had to be. The songs as deft pieces of writing had already been well considered, but their articulation needed to be urgent for the mystery at the heart of them to spark and fizz with real-time revelation… Georg and Heike, the husband and wife duo from Austria who are lock-and-key to Son Of The Velvet Rat – both closing the circle of their shared intention, and springing it open – seem invariably to embody the purest constructs of Americana. The voices you hear from this album hover like strobing waves rising from a ribbon of heated black road, and that is precisely how they entered my world: as an apparition both unmistakable and untouchable; other-worldly, yet utterly familiar. I sometimes believe that as sprawling and confused as our national character has become, it requires a foreigner to actually make sense and whole cloth of its particular alchemy –to see it clearly, as if from the fire tower high above us.“ – Joe Henry, Producer
Alongside this latest album creation, the band catalogue includes collaborations with other luminaries such as Lucinda Williams and former Wilco drummer Ken Coomer. Peter Jesperson, former producer & manager of The Replacements, put it aptly: “… beautiful and somber music, their lyrics are pure poetry.”
Download Full Album
Download Dorado (password protected)
Stream Full Album
- Carry On 3:50
- Copper Hill 4:50
- Blood Red Shoes 5:00
- Love‘s The Devil‘s Foe 4:10
- Shadow Song 3:50
- Surfer Joe 4:00
- Starlight Motel 3:35
- Sweet Angela 6:30
- Tiger Honey 3:10
- Franklin Avenue 4:50
BOLD = focus track
Produced by Joe Henry
Jay Bellerose: drums, percussion
Patrick Warren: piano, e-piano, autoharp, marxophone
David Piltch: acoustic and electric bass
Adam Levy: electric guitar
Heike Binder: organ, accordion, backing vocals
Georg Altziebler: guitar, vocals, e-bow, melodica, harp
Victoria Williams: vocals on “Blood Red Shoes”
Faith Chinnock: add. b-vocals on “Blood Red Shoes”
Miriam Bichler: add. b-vocals on “Love’s the Devil’s Foe”
Gar Robertson: guitar on “Love’s the Devil’s Foe”, pedal steel on “ Tiger Honey”
Bob Furgo: violin on “Shadow song” &“Carry on”
Scott Kisinger: trombone on “Copper Hill”, “Blood Red Shoes” &“Surfer Joe”
Kelly Corbin: clarinet and saxophone on “Copper Hill”
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Selected Reviews
“Mesmerizing”. – Magnet
“Haunting folk noir meoldies.” – Paste
“It is a record that you will always return to for comfort in dark moments, a soother, a fret blanket of an album… It’s an Americana ‘Blue Lines’ by Massive Attack – you might not know it now, but in 10 years this will be the best record you ever heard in 2017.” – Fatea Magazine
“Dorado is truly the first great album of 2017” – Coachella Valley Weekly
Praise for Previous Releases
“SotVR paint a landscape that echoes the dark romanticism of Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake…stark imagery amid themes of love, loss, and longing.” – Performer Magazine
“Introspective and cathartic European folk music.” – Delusions of Adequacy
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