California psych-gaze group Silent Pictures have announced the details of their sophomore LP, ‘Let it Begin’. They’ve also revealed the first single Behind the Scenes, which is lifted from the album and was mixed by Ricky Maymi of Brian Jonestown Massacre. Take a listen to the track via Soundcloud below.
‘Let It Begin’ drifts from ethereal glam rock to noisy psychedelic shoegaze to pure Britpop, an indication of the wide-ranging experience of the musicians that make up Silent Pictures. The skill level allows for the record to float between genres seamlessly, unable to stick to one certain genre, or even stay under the “psych” umbrella. Certainly Brian Jonestown Massacre comes to mind, as member Ricky Maymi had a hand in production, yet it’s easy to compare tracks like Twisted Smile to Britpop trailblazers like the Jesus and Mary Chain and the Stone Roses. Not to be nailed down to one era either, Silent Pictures could be perfectly in line on a bill with more modern bands like Allah Lahs or Kevin Morby.
‘Let It Begin’ was recorded between 2014 and 2015 in California at Sky Lab Studio with Tommy Dietrick (Desert Stars Festival, David J) and on Dave Grohl’slegendary Sound City Neve board at Studio 606. After all tracking and overdubs were completed, individual raw tracks were transferred to studios in Glasgow Scotland, Oslo Norway, San Francisco CA and Los Angeles CA and were mixed by Dave Schiffman (Johnny Cash, BRMC, Dandy Warhols, Charli XCX), Joe Foster (co-founder Creation Records, Television Personalities), John Fryer (This Mortal Coil, Cocteau Twins, 4AD), Ricky Maymi (Brian Jonestown Massacre, Wild Swans) After all mixes were complete, digital and vinyl mastering was done by Howie Weinberg (The Cure, Nirvana, The Clash).
Every instrument and microphone went live to the board and was mastered in analog with knobs and dials and not a bunch of digital emulations and approximations of what live music should sound like. There is no use of digital vocal pitch corrected by auto tune. What you hear is what you get.
Track list:
Let it Begin
Twisted Smile
Behind the Scenes
Time Has Broken
Come Around
Far From Reach
Heaven Sent
Fake It (Till We Make It)
Dear John
Forever Your Love
Bad Experiences
Dying for You
‘Let it Begin’ will be released on vinyl and all DSPs on July 15 via Green Fuse Records.
The band will be playing three different California based festivals and will be announcing more live dates throughout the summer.
Festival appearances:
SubZero Festival – San Jose, CA – June 4
Desert Stars Festival – Joshua Tree, CA — Sept. 23-24
