Shooting Spires

s/t CD

CBR 007


Bio:

Shooting Spires is the bedroom art-pop project of BJ Warshaw, bassist and vocalist for Parts & Labor. Retreating from the Brooklyn stalwarts and their extroverted noise-punk, his self-titled debut album is an agoraphobic mix of soaring choruses and tormented electronics, fueled on Brian Eno, Boredoms and Peter Gabriel. Warshaw showcases his ability to harness drone, noise, tweaked electronics and singed circuits: the violent hum of Sunroof! juxtaposed against hooks catchy enough for fans of TV On The Radio.

Warshaw fuses off-kilter electronic beats, oscillator blips, glitchy loops, toy keyboards, distorted guitars, saxophone, drums and found percussion. All of this is the therapeutic underscore to lyrics about failed relationships ("Embers"), redemption in the face of seemingly inescapable cycles ("Quarantine"), the persistent threat of personal and global catastrophe ("Alive And Well") and finding solace in decay ("Right").

Despite the lush sound and emotional breadth of Shooting Spires, all 10 tracks were written, recorded and performed by Warshaw in a windowless, ventilation-deficient bedroom during a two and a half month self-imposed retreat during the winter of 2007. Following a string of intimate solo performances, Shooting Spires will be expanding into a four piece band and touring the United States.


Song List:

Download "Right" mp3 (4.5MB)

1. Right
2. Embers
3. Quarantine
4. Alive And Well
5. A Million Drops
6. Hollow Yell
7. Sky For A Sea
8. Silent Alarms
9. Anachronism
10. At Last At Least


Selected Press:

"...a surprisingly epic production that sounds like the work of several people despite its bedroom origins, has gorgeous washes of electric guitar along with countless space-defining and space-erasing effects... it's as otherworldly and strange as it is friendly and human."
-Pitchfork Media (7.8/10)

"While Shooting Spires maintains Parts and Labor"s love of messy electronics, Warshaw eschews the aggression for some anthemic pop songs. Addictively noisy but ultimately listenable, Shooting Spires is another quality release from Warshaw"s head."
-XLR8R (8/10)

"A consummate bedroom production, the record fizzes and shivers with atmospheric pop that theorizes a lo-fi, catastrophically stoned TV On The Radio. 'Alive And Well' is the disc's zenith, a song that's suspended so precisely between Brian Eno, Robert Pollard, and Jeff Mangum that it rises to the level of all three."
-The Onion A.V. Club

"...the excellent solo project of B.J. Warshaw of Parts And Labor, hitting the target dead center with 10 hella distorted pop songs where the melodies aren't exactly buried under the static, because the screech and crackle and zaps and emergency broadcast alarms and eerie sonorities are what you listen for. Shooting Spires is in the grand tradition of disregarding the supposed distinction between hooks and texture, giving you somethin' semi-catchy with a lot of pretty-but-grimy noise on top."
-Idolator

"...a great solo debut. It shows Warshaw to have an ear for creating melodies with almost religious resonance, and a mind for maintaining them as he shreds their fundamental structure and plays with their decay."
-Dusted Magazine


Album Cover:

300 dpi RGB jpg




Photos:

300 dpi RGB jpg


Photo by Tod Seelie