GIRLYMAN – SUPERNOVA

A short while ago, I was added to the bands facebook group and over the past weeks I’ve seen excitement building for both the new album release and the forthcoming tour. I recently got my hands on Supernova and instantly, it got under my skin. You know the type of thing,  one that has you going back to it time and time again for another fix. With its emotional pull, clear as a bell lyrical harmonies and clever instrumental arrangements, it will take you at least a couple of years in rehab, to get it out of your system.

Darren Beech folking.com

The album was mixed by Grammy Award winner Ben Wisch (Marc Cohn) and featuring guest appearances by the Indigo Girls’ Emily Saliers and others, Supernova is Girlyman’s fifth studio release and the first to include the kinetic percussion of newest member and former Po’ Girl drummer JJ Jones. Lush, Beatles-esque arrangements, the group’s signature three-part harmonies, and songs that “capture, in a story or a surprising metaphor, a feeling you’ve had but never heard so well- expressed” (Slate Magazine) all come together to create Girlyman’s most masterful work to date. “It’s the music of my heart and soul,” says comedian Margaret Cho. “Girlyman is the past and the present and the future.”

“Heartbreakingly beautiful three-part harmonies…theirs is a sound you could happily drown in…miss them at your peril!” ***** Maverick

Ironically, the past year was one of the most challenging in the Atlanta-based quartet’s history. “A supernova is a dying star,” explains Girlyman member Doris Muramatsu, who was diagnosed with leukaemia in late 2010. The three founding members of Girlyman (Muramatsu, Nate Borofsky, and Tylan Greenstein) had spent ten years playing and singing harmony together, from early days in tiny coffeehouses, through long opening runs with the Indigo Girls and Dar Williams, all the way to festival main stages and the country’s premier folk venues. Now the band suddenly feared for its future. “I was in the hospital getting blood transfusions and chemotherapy. We cancelled a month of tours and thought that was it. We didn’t know if we’d ever tour again.”

“Soaring harmonies, social consciousness, and impressive musical prowess…Girlyman’s bittersweet approach to the human condition will strike a chord regardless of the listener.” San Francisco Chronicle

“Tired of discordant progressive and oh-so-experimental indie rock? Girlyman makes folk-pop music that is defined by stunning three part harmonies and beautiful melodies. This music makes you want to sit back, close your eyes and listen.” The Washington Post

“a festival of Simon & Garfunkel-styled harmony that strokes and soothes. Irresistible.” R2 Magazine

Supernova is an autobiography of this unique time for the folk-rock quartet, and its thirteen songs resonate with themes of uncertainty and transformation. But the album is not a dirge; instead, the band reaches, as always, for hope. “A supernova may be a dying star,” continues Doris. “But as it turns out, it also gives birth to new stars.” Indeed, nine months later, Muramatsu’s cancer went into remission and the band was reborn.

Artist Web Link – http://girlyman.com/


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