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Rose City Band’s music is sun-kissed timeless country rock whose seemingly effortless momentum carries the joy of its creation without ignoring the darkness pervading our consciousness. Led by guitarist/vocalist Ripley Johnson, the music of Rose City Band is rooted in his love of private press records of the mid to late 70’s. The band, in addition to Johnson, features pedal steel guitarist Barry Walker, keyboardist Paul Hasenberg and drummer John Jeffrey who enmesh a keen sense of rhythmic drive and melody with gentler, sumptuous atmospheres. Sol Y Sombra digs its heels into insatiable grooves, its parade of catchy songs conjuring a sunset drive through an open desert, both a celebration of a sojourn and a reach for the warmth of home.
The contrasts of Sol Y Sombra, the musical equivalent of bright stars in a night sky, are to Johnson an inevitability. “With Rose City Band, I'm generally trying to make uplifting music, good time music,” says Johnson. “This time I couldn't avoid the shadow being more of a presence. There's no getting away from it. The shadow is always there. So, I left it in.” Like many genre-breaking private press albums, the melancholia-infused Sol Y Sombra’s contrasts equally enhance moments of joy and movement whilst elevating the music with its honesty and intimacy. Nuanced performances and interplay between players unfurl like desert flowers splashing color onto an arid landscape. The ensemble's buoyant moments still glide with ease, but there is room to revel in respite of the shade of a dark cloud. For Johnson, the album finds places where the conscious meets the unconscious, the songs emanating the more mercurial and curious aspects of their sonic dream world, using darker hues to paint the panorama around them.
Sol Y Sombra’s opener “Lights on the Way” is halogen on the highways, a beam of light pressing onward past dashed lines and soaring with Johnson’s guitar work and lush harmonies. The album’s first half is rife with blissful Americana, from upbeat rollicks to ballads dripping with sweet molasses. Walker’s pedal steel speckles the slow-motion shuffle of “Evergreen” with glinting starlight. His playing throughout pairs perfectly with Johnson’s effervescent guitar lines, exuding the casual virtuosity of pedal steel country legends while lending remarkable modern twists to his graceful licks. Across the album, Johnson’s tasteful guitar interjections and soothing voice are met in kind with the versatile playing of Walker, Hasenberg, and Jeffery, with special guest performances by synthesist/vocalist Sanae Yamada. Album closer “The Walls” perfectly captures the band’s explorative and expansive songs, Hasenberg’s soulful organ driving the album to an emotionally cathartic conclusion.
Throughout his prolific career with Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo and now Rose City Band, Johnson’s music has consistently centered around exploration and discovery. Sol Y Sombra imbues his penchant for space and resplendent tonality with a denser amalgam of his influences. Johnson tactfully incorporates new elements with deftness and fluidity, while holding the band’s center intact. “One of my takeaways from making this record is that I spent a lot of energy trying to do things a little different but ended up back where I started in many ways,” notes Johnson. “And that's OK.” Through a delicate balance of the somber and the serene, of subtle evolutions and familiar sounds, Sol Y Sombra makes for a holistically joyous experience, finding solace in both sun and shade.
Rain Parade is a highly acclaimed neo-psychedelic band that gained notoriety as part of LA’s fabled Paisley Underground music scene in the early 1980s. The band’s signature sound combines hypnotic-melodic songwriting and 60s-inspired instrumentation with 70s punk influences and a darker lyrical approach, informed by late 20th- and early 21st-century themes.
Light Fantastic was hatched during an unusually warm San Francisco winter. In an effort to harness the blue skies, Terry Sowers (who has played with Farmer Dave’s SF live band) with members of Bellavista/Tamaryn/Pink Breath of Heaven to realize the sunnier side of pop music, inspired as much by obscure California sunshine pop records (Millenum, Sandy Salisbury, Sunflower era Beach Boys) as the late night soul music heard spilling out of the local club scene. The result is something between Chris Bell and Alex Chilton via Jan and Dean, and Bob Welch-era Fleetwood Mac. A power pop delight as seen through the eyes of surf-crazed coastal dwellers with enough mystery from the incoming fog. Their debut EP on Spiritual Pajamas was voted as one of the top records in 2013 by Derek James of Entrance Band and Brent Rademaker (Beachwood Sparks, GospelBeach), followed by their LP Out of View in 2016. They bring new unreleased offerings to their live set with some surprise covers of their inspirations, and are excited to be back home at the Chapel, where they have shared the stage with the Allah Las, Conan Mockasin, Jacco Gardner, Luna, and Terry Reid.
