Treble is hosting the exclusive premiere of “Hot Mess,” the new single from Maryland cinematic alt-rock trio, THE SHENANDOAH ELECTRIC COMPANY. Formed by members of Pianos Become The Teeth, the band is preparing to release their debut, LP1, through Pax Aeternum in June.
Winter in the mountains can be unpredictable. The best anyone can do is stockpile wood, food, and whatever vice they need to potentially not see much of the outside world until the first thaw in the Spring. The days grow shorter, moods shift, loneliness sets in. The cold can cut like a knife. But there always comes a morning where something shifts. The days seem to get a little bit longer. Things start to thaw. The season’s cycle and we seemingly are always looking forward to what to prepare for next. Time passes and before we know it, we are preparing for that first frost again. THE SHENANDOAH ELECTRIC COMPANY‘s LP1 feels like that cycle. Unpredictable at times while also offering moments of comfort, clarity, and warmth amidst the gloom of Winter.
LP1 was recorded by the band’s members, David Haik, Michael York, and Wes Young, mixed by York who handled the cover art, and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege (The Armed, Engine Kid, Glassing).
The band’s Wes Young humbly offers with the new single, “‘Hot Mess’ came about from a sample of an a cappella gospel song. Several splices via an algorithmic sequencer with the sample, a couple E major chords manually played through an AM radio and an intentionally overbearing ’80s Genesis vibe led us to this one. It has the best drum sounds on the whole record and you’re gonna know it when David plays that snare. The song is about the ebb and flow of friendships as you age. The song itself is a ‘Hot Mess’ in the best way.”
Treble writes, “Less of a punk or hardcore band than an eclectic, psychedelic folk/alt-rock group, THE SHENANDOAH ELECTRIC COMPANY showcases a broad array of influences and unexpected sonic terrain. Today they share the new single ‘Hot Mess,’ a prime example of their organically trippy sound. Influenced by ’80s prog and bathed in effects, the track is simultaneously warm and otherworldly, eventually rising up into a soaring climax.”
Stream THE SHENANDOAH ELECTRIC COMPANY’s “Hot Mess” first now at Treble RIGHT HERE.
LP1 will see release June 3rd through all digital providers including Bandcamp where preorders are live and “This Has To Work” is playing HERE.
THE SHENANDOAH ELECTRIC COMPANY has been writing their first record over the last five years. What started as an idea of making raw, heavy music began shifting into something more nuanced. Throughout the writing, Wes Young and Michael York had the idea of a band that felt fluid. Something that would ebb and flow with different collaborators and people to focus on the process of thinking and creating differently. They wrote and recorded sketches over the first few years – yet, in the middle of a session one afternoon – they lost everything. Most of the last two years were gone in an instant.
Taking this as an opportunity, they took the remains they could find (a single .wav file of a guitar here, a bounce of roughmixdrumsonly_ver11.mp3 there) and started thinking about how they could take these pieces and form something else out of them. Using the only remains they had left of their previous recorded output as the foundation to build something new on, they began writing a different record along with drummer David Haik. Something that felt a bit more chaotic and volatile. Something angular that felt enveloping and beautiful yet somehow still digital and cold. There was no “studio,” only spaces that provided a backdrop to record whenever they could be it a hotel room, a late 1800s warehouse in which there was a vacant recording studio, or in the mountains in Virginia during a particularly bad cold snap. However, the home of the record is in the woods of Bayse, Virginia where the music and vision both came to fruition in a 1970’s ski resort house.
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