The New Way Out
Encyclopedia
The New Way Out is the sixth studio album
by the Portland, Maine
, band Rustic Overtones
, released on November 11, 2009. Recorded throughout 2008 and 2009, the album is the band's first since the departure of keyboard player
Spencer Albee
, and their first full-length release of all-new material since ¡Viva Nueva!. With just over an hour of music, the album is the band's second longest after Long Division and features the most experimental work of their career.
s music was previously recorded before the band broke up in 2002, and all but four songs had been previously played live before the break-up.) On September 17, 2008, the band announced on their Myspace
that Albee, their keyboard player since 1995's Long Division had left the band. Drummer Tony McNaboe explained that Albee was leaving on good terms, and that the album would continue as planned with multi-instrumentalist Nigel Hall from Lettuce filling in on keyboards. On October 17, 2008, the band premiered the song "The Smallest Spark" at The Asylum in Portland, the first new song of the album to be played live. Word on the new album was scare until February 4, 2009, when Dave Gutter announced the names of a few new songs that would eventually appear on the album (such as "The Downside Of Looking Up", "Arizona", "The Same Does Not Apply" and "Nuts And Bolts") along with a tentative track listing. Gutter also explained that the band was experimenting with many different instruments not typical of normal Rustics Overtones albums, which would become apparent in the final album's overall sound.
Little was heard from the band about the new album until August 2009 when the song "The Same Does Not Apply" was premiered on local alternative rock
station WCYY
. In mid-August, the band held a cowbell-playing competition in which the winner would play onstage with the band to the song at its debut at the Machigonne Music Festival on August 29, 2009. At the festival, the band premiered the songs "Arizona", "Like The Blues", "Kathleen Caffeiene", "The Downside Of Looking Up" and "The Same Does Not Apply", closing with a full-band version of "The Smallest Spark". On October 16, 2009, Gutter announced that the album would be named The New Way Out, and would be released on November 11. He went on to explain that over the past two years, the band had been constructing its own brand-new recording studio in which to record the album, and that the album was self-produced by the band members. Referring to the recording process, he explained that "We spent the last two years writing and recording The New Way Out and at times it seemed longer. We have always celebrated our democratic approach to writing and recording. Siting the "compromise" of our creative process as our strength. While making this record that "compromise" was really put to the test." The album was released on Digipak
CD to all Bull Moose Music stores four days early on November 7, 2009, to coincide with their show at the Paradise Rock Club
in Boston, Massachusetts.
landscape. The drawing also features a metal boot with wings, a reference to the artwork for the Rooms by the Hour
song "Iron Boots".
praised the album's mix of "Beatles-reminiscent psychedelia, multi-layered orchestral pop and huge-eared references to everything from Pink Floyd to Coldplay and Radiohead - all of it wrapped around one warm, captivating melody after another", giving the album an "A" and calling it their "magnum opus - a great piece of work in every way." The Portland Phoenix also praised the album's "textured and dense amalgam of the collected band’s many tastes and endeavors", although it noted that the sound "is far from that core of primal energy that launched the band and drove it to its many heights" and the reviewer remarked that, "I just have to admit I wish this new album had elements of both. I’m awed. I’m amazed. But I’m not bathed in sweat." In a list of the top ten greatest local albums of the decade, the Phoenix ranked New Way Out at number one, calling it "hands-down the crowning local music achievement of the decade", and claiming that "if there is any justice in the musical cosmos, this album will break them nationally."
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by the Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
, band Rustic Overtones
Rustic Overtones
Rustic Overtones is a rock/jazz/funk band from Maine active from 1993–2002 and 2007–present. They were the first group to perform live on XM Satellite Radio, and their 2007 album Light At The End was the fastest-selling local disc ever in the state of Maine....
, released on November 11, 2009. Recorded throughout 2008 and 2009, the album is the band's first since the departure of keyboard player
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
Spencer Albee
Spencer Albee
Spencer Aaron Albee is an American musician, producer, and front man of the Maine-based rock band Spencer and the School Spirit Mafia...
, and their first full-length release of all-new material since ¡Viva Nueva!. With just over an hour of music, the album is the band's second longest after Long Division and features the most experimental work of their career.
Background and recording
In 2008, the band set out to start recording their first full-length album of new material since 2001's ¡Viva Nueva!. (Some of Light At The EndLight at the End
Light at the End is a 2007 studio album by the Portland, Maine, band Rustic Overtones, the first album by the band since its break-up in 2002. The album was recorded in spring 2007 and released on July 24, 2007. It has become the fastest-selling local disc ever in the state of Maine...
s music was previously recorded before the band broke up in 2002, and all but four songs had been previously played live before the break-up.) On September 17, 2008, the band announced on their Myspace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
that Albee, their keyboard player since 1995's Long Division had left the band. Drummer Tony McNaboe explained that Albee was leaving on good terms, and that the album would continue as planned with multi-instrumentalist Nigel Hall from Lettuce filling in on keyboards. On October 17, 2008, the band premiered the song "The Smallest Spark" at The Asylum in Portland, the first new song of the album to be played live. Word on the new album was scare until February 4, 2009, when Dave Gutter announced the names of a few new songs that would eventually appear on the album (such as "The Downside Of Looking Up", "Arizona", "The Same Does Not Apply" and "Nuts And Bolts") along with a tentative track listing. Gutter also explained that the band was experimenting with many different instruments not typical of normal Rustics Overtones albums, which would become apparent in the final album's overall sound.
Little was heard from the band about the new album until August 2009 when the song "The Same Does Not Apply" was premiered on local alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
station WCYY
WCYY
WCYY is a commercial radio station located in Portland, Maine. It broadcasts to the Portland, Maine area on 94.3 FM and formerly on 93.9 FM from Lewiston, Maine. Its target audience are people from ages 18–44. The station airs a modern rock music format and is under ownership of Cumulus Media....
. In mid-August, the band held a cowbell-playing competition in which the winner would play onstage with the band to the song at its debut at the Machigonne Music Festival on August 29, 2009. At the festival, the band premiered the songs "Arizona", "Like The Blues", "Kathleen Caffeiene", "The Downside Of Looking Up" and "The Same Does Not Apply", closing with a full-band version of "The Smallest Spark". On October 16, 2009, Gutter announced that the album would be named The New Way Out, and would be released on November 11. He went on to explain that over the past two years, the band had been constructing its own brand-new recording studio in which to record the album, and that the album was self-produced by the band members. Referring to the recording process, he explained that "We spent the last two years writing and recording The New Way Out and at times it seemed longer. We have always celebrated our democratic approach to writing and recording. Siting the "compromise" of our creative process as our strength. While making this record that "compromise" was really put to the test." The album was released on Digipak
Digipak
Digipak is a patented style of CD, DVD or BD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI World Ltd., an Atlas Holdings company.-Features:...
CD to all Bull Moose Music stores four days early on November 7, 2009, to coincide with their show at the Paradise Rock Club
Paradise Rock Club
The Paradise Rock Club, formerly known as the Paradise Theater, is a small music venue in Boston, Massachusetts which opened on September 22, 1977...
in Boston, Massachusetts.
Artwork
The artwork for the album is once again done by long-time collaborator Patrick Corrigan, a popular Portland artist and member of Seekonk. The overall style is very similar to the original independent release of Light At The End, with an aesthetic similar to that of pencil drawing in a sketchbook. The inner artwork features a few references to the art from Light At the End, including a man dressed in a rabbit suit and two canoers in a psychedelicPsychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
landscape. The drawing also features a metal boot with wings, a reference to the artwork for the Rooms by the Hour
Rooms by the Hour
Rooms by the Hour is an album released in 1998 by Rustic Overtones. The band's third full length offering, it is credited with earning major label interest in the band and leading to their subsequent contract with the Warner Music Group.-Track listing:...
song "Iron Boots".
Reception
Initial reception to the album was positive. The Boston HeraldBoston Herald
The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...
praised the album's mix of "Beatles-reminiscent psychedelia, multi-layered orchestral pop and huge-eared references to everything from Pink Floyd to Coldplay and Radiohead - all of it wrapped around one warm, captivating melody after another", giving the album an "A" and calling it their "magnum opus - a great piece of work in every way." The Portland Phoenix also praised the album's "textured and dense amalgam of the collected band’s many tastes and endeavors", although it noted that the sound "is far from that core of primal energy that launched the band and drove it to its many heights" and the reviewer remarked that, "I just have to admit I wish this new album had elements of both. I’m awed. I’m amazed. But I’m not bathed in sweat." In a list of the top ten greatest local albums of the decade, the Phoenix ranked New Way Out at number one, calling it "hands-down the crowning local music achievement of the decade", and claiming that "if there is any justice in the musical cosmos, this album will break them nationally."
Tracklist
Personnel
- Dave Gutter - lead vocals, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, ukuleleUkuleleThe ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
and lyricsLyricsLyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of... - Jon Roods - upright bass, electric bassElectric BassElectric bass can mean:*Electric upright bass, the electric version of a double bass*Electric bass guitar*Bass synthesizer*Big Mouth Billy Bass, a battery-powered singing fish...
, keyboardKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, percussion, vibraphoneVibraphoneThe vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
, bellsBell (instrument)A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
, guitar, vocals and recording - Ryan Zoidis - alto saxophoneAlto saxophoneThe alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
, tenor saxophoneTenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
, baritone saxophoneBaritone saxophoneThe baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
, keyboards, percussion, vocals, string/horn arrangements, and sound engineering - Tony McNaboe - drums, percussion, keyboards and vocals
- Jason Ward - baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone, fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
and bass clarinetBass clarinetThe bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet... - Dave Noyes - tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
, bells, vocals and string/horn arrangements - Nigel Hall - keyboards and vocals
- John McClaine - trombone
- Mark Tipton - trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
and flugel horn - Peter Dugas - fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
- Lucas Desmond - alto saxophone and tenor saxophone
- Joe Parra - baritone saxophone
- Jaime Colpoys - trombone
- Angela Plato - trumpet and flute
- Michael Albert - oboe
- Nicole Ribata - flute
- Eric Ambrose - trombone
- Tyler Quist - keyboards
- Angela Doxsey - violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and vocals - Evan Casas - vocals
- Chris Moultin - vocals
- Poverty - vocals
- Kenya Hall - vocals
- Jason Ingalls - timpani, vibraphone, bells and vocals
- Anna Maria Amoroso - violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
- Tim Garret - cello
- Heather Kahill - violin
- Julie Anderson - viola
- Lauren Hastings - violin
- Kallie Ciechomski - viola
- Emiley Thomas - cello
- Jim Begley - additional recording
- Jonathan Wyman - mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
- Adam Ayan - mastering
- Patrick Corrigan - artwork