[2010-04-27] Alpha Rev "New Morning" produced by David Kahne (Hollywood)

Linda · **Posted:** Mon Jan 25, 2010 4:16 pm

About The Artist
Formed in 2005, Alpha Rev has won countless fans in its home base of Austin and beyond. Along with McPherson the band includes Derek Dunivan (guitar), Tommy Roalson (drums), Dave Wiley (cello), Alex Dunlap (bass), Brian Lewis Batch (violin) and Derek Morris (keyboards). Imbued with a wide spectrum of influences - from classical to arena rock - the new album is about finding a way out of emotional purgatory. "Life goes in a straight line for some people, but for me, life has been a lot of extremes," McPherson says. "I have always felt more comfortable if I was hot or cold, angry or happy. It's when I'm in the middle that I feel uncomfortable." McPherson founded Alpha Rev in 2005 after the breakup of his previous band Endochine, which had toured heavily, playing with Jet, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Pete Yorn to name a few. The band recorded its debut album `The Greatest Thing I Ever Learned" in 2007, propelling them to #1 Indie Band in Texas, not to mention #156 nationwide, in a MySpace poll. With the release of New Morning, Alpha Rev will leave their halcyon indie days behind, but not their independent spirit. Certainly not as long as McPherson and company continue to create music that matters so deeply to them. "I love to listen to a record that makes me feel something," McPherson says. "I try as hard as I can to find those melodies that evoke. It's almost as if after you're done playing, you've just worked out your soul and your heart."

Product Description
Just who are these shattered souls Alpha Rev singer/songwriter Casey McPherson sketches in his songs? Why an evocative cello solo on one track, and a killer guitar riff in the next? Eventually, under the sway of the band's music, it all becomes clear. It's there in the sweep of melody and brash confessions of McPherson's lyrics. One or two songs into New Morning, Alpha Rev's Hollywood Records debut album, and you're hooked. Produced by David Kahne (Paul McCartney, Sublime, the Strokes) New Morning wrestles with thematic contrasts: faith and faithlessness, entrapment and freedom, sleep and wakefulness. Yet throughout, the band's eclectic style and McPherson's melodies provide the backbone. "Melody is what connects the music," McPherson says. "It takes you somewhere, gives you a memory, changes your mind, lets you drive a little bit farther or stay up a little bit later." "When Did I Wake Up" and "Face Down" pick up the power pop mantle, while "Get Out," with its towering arrangement, has McPherson seeking escape from a grey existence. The beautifully subdued "Colder Months" runs with the same theme, inspired by McPherson's days in New York, when he was forced to pawn his guitar pedals and eat crackers to survive. Alpha Rev ups the ante with "Heaven," ("Do you know what it's like?/Life without heaven?/Flat lined. Alone"), followed by "Perfect Love," the point at which "New Morning" reaches a kind of spiritual equilibrium. But leave it to McPherson to end the album on an autumnal note with "Goodbye From the Start." "Music is my way of communicating," he says. "It's a gift I've been given and trained to do. If I knew how to do it in a less personal way, it would be a lot easier." McPherson immersed himself in music at an early age, turning around the Hondo acoustic guitar his father bought at Sears, so he could use it left-handed. He taught himself to play chords upside-down and how to write "1-4-5 chords on one hand and melody on the other" on a toy electric keyboard.

1. New Morning
2. Phoenix Burn
3. White Fences
4. When Did I Wake Up
5. Face Down
6. Get Out
7. Alone With You
8. Colder Months
9. Heaven
10. Perfect Love
11. Goodbye From The Start

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0034JGBNO/?tag=imwan-20

[2010-04-27] Alpha Rev "New Morning" produced by David Kahne (Hollywood)

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