Break out the Walkmans, boomboxes and have pencils by just in case, a local band Sovroncourt is re-releasing their ablum on cassette.
Sovroncourt is a folk band from Mansfield primarily featuring Cameron Sharp, who is periodically joined by friends. The band announced the February 18 re-release of the album Waves and Wheels on cassette via Twitter this week.
“I grew up on tapes and I feel that there is a romantic notion inherent in formats like tape, record, 8-track, and reel-to-reel that asks the listener to hear all of the songs on the album,” said Sharp.
“Because the rewind and fast-forward functions on tape decks take more time and are less accurate consistently than the skip functions on a CD player, cassettes deny the listener the ability to quickly change a song if they are not immediately engaged in it.”
Independent label Wild Kindness Records will release the limited run of cassette tapes next month. The band says that the tapes will contain exclusive new material.
In a recent interview, Sharp described his music as lo-fi (low-fidelity). “Lo-fi leaves the listener thinking ‘I could do that’ because of its inherent accessibility. More people are experimenting with making music. If you decide to make an album- you can do that. It will be online- it’ll be out for the world to hear and it will take up the same amount of space that artists like Mumford & Sons and the Tallest Man on Earth do. The opportunity to hear sovroncourt’s music is so much greater and because of that, I think there’s a greater chance to hear lower quality music that’s out there. You could write an album on your iPhone, and that’s that.”
Upon its initial Autumn release in 2013, the album and its music were met with notable critical nods and a number of positive reviews.
Pittsburgh City Paper writer Seth Pfannenscmidt tabbed Waves and Wheels one of his favorite 5 albums of 2013. Pittsburgh Music Magazine served this review, “Clever and insightful, Sharp shows that he can stand with [the] best of songwriters.”
Columbus Alive said the band “…exude[s] a Califone-like clicking-clattering future folk vibe.” Our Vinyl reviewed, “[Sovroncourt] is pure, raw and organic right down to the instruments.”
That reflects the type of experience Sharp says he hopes his fans will enjoy. “I believe that the time that elapses between the last song on side A and the first song on side B is time to digest, reflect, get excited, and, in most cases, interact with and appreciate the physical object that contains the music as it gets turned over. When you listen to Tom Petty’s ‘Full Moon Fever’ on CD you’ll hear him, about halfway through, nod to this very notion,” he noted.
Sharp says the tapes will be available for purchase at live shows and intends to sell it locally as well. The album will also be available at select Cleveland and Columbus locations.
Readers can listen to sample of Waves and Wheels below:
