Fairmont

"Fairmont is indie rock we should all be thankful for" - Amp Magazine

 
New Jersey Indie Rock staples Fairmont have been a band for 15 years and have just completed their newest album. Fairmont is a complex mix melodies driven by the play of the male and female vocals as well as the play between guitars and the lush instrumentation of xyla-rimba, vibraphone, and glockenspiel. The groups unusual instrumentation gives them a very different sound from most indie rock bands. Fairmont as well have produced, engineered, mixed and mastered the recording all themselves at their studio The Forest Of Chaos in Hawthorne, NJ and are releasing the album on the record label they have built, Mint 400 Records. DIY is alive and well for these guys and they prove once again that breaking the rules can sometimes yield the best results.

The album is titled 8 ½ (eight and a half) for a few reasons. First because the band considers this it’s 8th and a half release (calling 2009’s 6 song EP “The Meadow At Dusk” the ½ album effort). Second because the album itself contains eight and half songs and finally paying homage to the Fellini film 8 ½ . The Fellini film has an overall theme about finding happiness in life’s difficulties and that is something Fairmont can relate to and the lyrical content reflects that. Just like a Fellini film and it’s weird moments that make it unlike other films, Fairmont can boast the same thing. This album is an interesting mix of all of their influences from The Beach Boys Pet Sounds to The Pixies Doolittle to Eric Dolphy’s Out To Lunch. That is a pretty wide range of things to squeeze into an indie record but that is what Fairmont accomplishes.

This record as well has some firsts for the band such as the song “The Connection” which features Sam Carradori as lead vocalist. Fairmont also had help from their friends and label mates The Maravines with big Thom Yorke sounding crescendos in the track “Love & War” and their more gentle side as they delicately add amazing harmonies to the track “Gone”. In addition the song “Devil” features Bryan Steenerson of the Minneapolis band Murzik and you will swear that it’s actually the Devil’s low spooky voice singing along with Sabatino & Carradori. Overall the band manages to almost act like a chameleon as they span genres sometimes all within the same song.


RIYL: Destroyer, Say Hi, The Hush Now, Ben Gibbard
TRY: #2, 3, 5, 6

Download full album here:
https://www.piratepirate.com/downloads/

More Info Here:
http://www.fairmontmusic.com
https://twitter.com/fairmont
https://www.facebook.com/FairmontNJ
http://mint400records.com
https://twitter.com/mint400records
https://www.facebook.com/mint400records