The members of psych rock outfit Shadow Brother don’t live in the same city — but that didn’t stop them from making a full-length record.
Toby Vest (vocals/guitar/keys/drum programming/engineer) and Jeff Schmidtke (guitar/keys) initially met when they were assigned to the same room in college in Memphis. With help from Toby’s younger brother Jake (lead guitar), they formed their first band together called Augustine. After those beginnings, the trio eventually split off and worked on a variety of musical projects in the Memphis scene over the next 14 years.
Jake Vest now lives in NYC and Jeff Schmidtke now lives in New Orleans, but the trio reformed in recent years as Shadow Brother. Collaborating separately through voice memos and MP3s with only occasional in person meetings, Shadow Brother have now made a lush record called Delta Of Time.
From the sunny melodies of the title track to the winding, bluesy, emphatic "Keep Going," Delta Of Time shows the depth and musicianship of the longtime collaborators.
"I went thru some pretty significant changes in my life before we started writing Delta Of Time. Like most creative processes, out of that chaotic period, a batch of new songs emerged giving the framework for this album. I had to not only face the anger and sadness I was feeling from this deep, personal betrayal but to openly examine my own mistakes and anxieties so that I could move past it and find the light on the other side," says Toby Vest to Myspace.
"I had to take a deep look at myself in the mirror, too.This couldn’t be a record based off of me "finger pointing." I needed to accept as much blame as I was placing on the other person in order to balance the raw, harshness of those emotions. Musically, I wanted to make the songs sound bright and sonically inviting to counterbalance the heavy nature of the lyrics. I felt so strongly about these new tunes that I really didn’t want to haphazardly send the guys any unfinished ideas. I also didn’t want to bombard them with fully realized songs, so I sent over my ideas giving them a somewhat blank canvas to start from. I just wasn’t sure how to accomplish those two seemingly opposing ideas. Collaborating over MP3 files back and forth we created the album you hear today."
Listen to Shadow Brother's Delta Of Time exclusively on Myspace below.
Listen to more exclusive tunes by visiting our Premiere page.
