NEW EP THE PARTY
The Party proudly showcases Big Light's love of experimentation and noise, while still carving out space for tender moments and deeply personal songwriting. It's a collection of songs conceived in a strange time, a testament to the band's resolve to keep making new music after 16 plus years together, despite ups and downs, and serves as a punctuation on their pandemic-era trilogy. Onwards and upwards, 'The Party' arrives on April 20th, 2022.
the band
Big Light came along at an auspicious time - the early ’00s. San Francisco’s music community was vibrant. Artists could still eek out a living in San Francisco. The 3rd wave of gentrification that would ultimately force many a band to pack up and leave the Bay Area had yet to fully materialize. In that sense, Big Light lucked out. The band’s early years were spent playing just about every club in town. There was no shortage of opportunities for new talent, and it wasn’t long before they established themselves as the creative force that would go on to record three albums, tour the country, and earn a reputation as one of SF’s most original rock n’ roll acts.
The fact that 13 years later, Big Light is still here making new music, is a small miracle in itself. The band has weathered a breakup, lineup shifts, and most critically, SF’s cultural drought. Despite this turmoil, the members of Big Light have committed themselves to stay in the game for the sake of their friendships, their fans, and the city they still call home. In a time where more music venues are closing than opening, and more and more bands are packing it up than forming, Big Light intends to hold the line and remain what they’ve always been - a San Francisco rock band.
ABOUT THE EPS
Anemone (2020)
We recorded these songs at Coyote Hearing in Oakland in 2019 and Panoramic House in Stinson Beach, as well as our respective homes in 2020. This is the first Big Light record produced and engineered solely by us, and it was mostly made during lockdown.
These songs may be among our most personal to-date, and a conscious effort was made to focus more on vocals and lyrics this time around. These songs are all anchored by a simple arrangement written on acoustic guitar, and as a rule of thumb, can be played that way.
With everything so uncertain right now, we're happy with how this one came out, not only because of how the music sounds, but also because we’ve proved to ourselves that we can make a Big Light record during these strange times. Thank you for listening. If the last Big Light LP was, perhaps, the sound of a band coming apart, then Ships embodies the opposite - a group coming back together, and rediscovering the joy of making music.
SHIPS (2020)
Recorded at the majestic Panoramic House, overlooking Marin’s Stinson Beach, Ships began as a solo record by Big Light’s frontman Fred Torphy, in collaboration with longtime associate producer Jeremy Black. Departing from the guitar-centric framework that guided previous albums, Torphy wholeheartedly embraced a new palette of sounds by deploying samplers, synths, and drum machines at the start of the sessions that would become Ships. This approach lent itself to heavy experimentation out of the gate and an intention to use otherworldly textures and sounds like a gateway to discover something new, though there was a recognition that something was missing...
An interesting thing happened about halfway through the Stinson sessions - Big Light booked an Airbnb rental in the Santa Cruz mountains and began making new music for the first time since 2012. Torphy, elated by the band’s intention to do more than the occasional one-off, invited his bandmates to Panoramic House over the next few months to help him finish the songs he was still sussing out with Black. Black, who produced the first two Big Light records, was supportive of this pivot, and the process of augmenting the material began. Guitarist Jeremy Korpas added layers of guitars and synths; Steve Adams overdubbed his signature vocal harmonies; and Bradly Bifulco was brought in to re-record drums and add percussion.
The final result is a very different kind of Big Light record. The songs on Ships ooze attitude and weirdness and are the most experimental recordings Big Light has produced, to-date. Tracks like “Airplane Mode” will sound both familiar and new to anyone who’s followed Big Light’s career. The shredding guitars, rough-around-the-edges vocals are there, while synth bass, sampled vocals, and electronic drums swirl across the stereo field and imply a more modern sensibility.
For a band known for its no-nonsense, garage rock sound, Ships sees Big Light growing comfortable being a band in 2020.
CHECKIN IN
Enjoy this Podcast Series produced by Jeremy Korpas, going behind-the-scenes on the making of Ships. Jeremy talks to Big Light members Fred, Steve & Brad to get the full story.
SHOWS
