Signature Sounds On Sale

This new collection of rare and previously unreleased recordings from leading New England roots label Signature Sounds marks a special anniversary. Started in 1994 by former radio programmer Jim Olsen and studio engineer Mark Thayer. Features a number of notable artists including Josh Ritter, Crooked Still, Jeffrey Foucault, Parsonsfield, Winterpills, Lake Street Dive and many more!

Chris Smothers cosmic blues are on full display in HUNDRED DOLLAR VALENTINE, a brilliant amalgam made of equal parts past, present and future. HUNDRED DOLLAR VALENTINE, Smothers twelfth studio disc, is a masterwork. It sports the unmistakable sound he's made his trademark: fingerpicked acoustic guitar and evocative sonic textures meshed with spare, brilliant songs, delivered in a bone-wise, hard-won voice.

Sometymes Why first came to be in the dark, quiet corners of the string band renaissance. Fans of each other's respective bands, Andreassen, Merenda, and O'Donovan had performed together in various contexts, both formal and informal, for years. "In 2004," Andreassen recalls, "we went to an afterparty in Brooklyn. I sang 'The Seasick Dawn,' and those two harmonized. It sounded too dreamy to not want to do it again." "We each had a bunch of songs that didn't work with our own bands," Merenda adds, "but they worked together. It became apparent to me that this is where I am most comfortable is singing songs from a female perspective or that are very confessional. That's what makes a Sometymes Why song for me." They were songs that fell through the cracks - long forgotten, ignored, or locked away in some special place for a later use that may never come. These songs finally emerged as the basis of something new in 2004, when Kristin Andreassen (Uncle Earl), Ruth Ungar Merenda (the Mammals), and Aoife O'Donovan (Crooked Still) decided to begin performing together. By some unagreed-upon combination of coincidence, design, and accident - the trio took those secret songs and, via an arresting DIY debut album and a series of riveting live performances, gave birth to an underground sensation they called Sometymes Why. Your Heart Is a Glorious Machine, to be released by Signature Sounds on March 10, 2009, is the second Sometymes Why album. Produced by José Ayerve (Winterpills, Spouse), Glorious Machine finds Sometymes Why taking a step out of the shadows, while continuing to nurture the languorous, luminously intimate pop that first inspired them to pursue their collaboration more intently. As implied by the title (named for a line in O'Donovan's haunting "Glorious Machine"), Your Heart Is a Glorious Machine resonates with a weathered elegance. Sometymes Why's vein of richly personal, slow-motion pop is enriched by new sonic elements (electric guitar, Hammond organ, unusual reverbs and echoes, the clatter of the belfry noisemakers) and by more visceral songs such as Merenda's sly "Aphrodisiaholic" and Andreassen's ingenious "The Stupid Kiss." Every moment of Your Heart Is a Glorious Machine is underpinned and illuminated by the palpable warmth and camaraderie of the trio. "It is amazing to be a part of a band that includes two of my closest girl friends," O'Donovan concludes. "It feels like a sisterhood, a club. It's very cathartic to be singing these original songs that have so much weight in all of our lives, and not to be singing them alone - to sing them together."

Vinyl LP pressing. In the Summer of '18, Twisted Pine [praised by NPR for "upbeat, poppy vibe; energetic, driving rhythms; virtuosic solos... and tight harmonies"] released Dreams, a deft reimagining of the band's pop, rock, and disco favorites, from Joni Mitchell to Vulfpeck, Scissor Sisters to The Cranberries. Pop Matters raved: "Four musicians from various parts of the country found a common bond in Boston as Twisted Pine, and take on some heavy hitters as they release a seven-song EP full of spark, light, and irresistible force... wildly innovative covers."

Winterpills' fifth album, All My Lovely Goners, is a long-simmered (three years) collection of multifaceted indie-pop ruminations on love and death that run the sonic gamut from Shins-ish rock, Fleetwood Mac-ish-shimmer, to Sandy Denny-ish melancholia. Engineered and produced by the band themselves in their studio, the album is as close to home as you can get.

While their full band was busy raising kids and committed to various day jobs, Flora Reed and Philip Price of Winterpills decided it would be fun to quickly record some of their favorite cover songs while the tape rolled. But what began as a small casual project morphed into an orchestrated, introspective transformation of a few well-known songs and quite a lot of under-appreciated gems: songs by Sharon Van Etten, Buddy Holly, Lisa Germano, the Go-Betweens, XTC, Beck, the Beatles, and more get the treatment of filtering through the alchemy of Flora and Philip s vocal & instrumental chemistry experiment.

Winterpills first unknowingly convened in a room with no furniture, on a shiny, bare wood floor, in front of a large bay window, during a harsh recent winter, in a small New England town. The good cheap magnums of wine were in season, as were guitars, and friends in need, some typically dire. Out the bay window, the snow flurried past the yellow streetlights on a treeless street called Orchard. Philip lay on the floor, looked up and saw his friend Flora, and later, to her left, his friend Dennis. It was time to play anything they wanted, and play they did, often not stopping until the sun came up. The catalogs of the Beatles, Throwing Muses, Neil Young, Stephen Merritt, the Carter Family, Elliott Smith, and others were all explored with no other thoughts than the friends, the wine, and the snow, eyes closed. Stealthily and casually, a sleeping body of Philip's songs began creeping into the mix. Very late one night, Dave Hower appeared at the door and joined the others, completing a sound the four knew and understood. They touched the songs very lightly, as if pushing them too hard might cause them to disappear. Dennis' guitar echoed the notes beneath each passage. Philip and Flora's voices together made a third, new, unheard voice. Dave's subtle and swirling beats pulled the shapes of the songs like taffy into sweeter, brighter forms that stayed light and yet lived well in the dark and the cold. Much like the improbable bumblebee, a beautiful new band formed and chose to fly. With their debut, Winterpills deliver an album that marks the arrival of a quietly stunning new band. Philip's transcendent melodies have never sounded more compelling or been performed with such reverence. Showcasing intimate male female vocals, haunting electric guitar, and bold inventive drumming, the album captures the sound of a band that has discovered a rare alignment of musicianship. From the straight-ahead pop of 'Threshing Machine,' to the hushed show-stopping beauty of 'Want the Want,' Winterpills and producer Jose Ayerve, have created a heartbreakingly expressive record. Winterpills will not tame you. Winterpills may hurt you. Do not let Winterpills crumble in your fingers. Do not wash off afterwards.