Signs of Life 2008: Best Music
Leona Naess - "All is Fair"
the everybodyfields - "Worth Keeping"
Life, Camera, Action: Movie Hopping While Rome burns
Live at Paste: Whitley
Hometown: Atlanta, Ga.
Fun Fact: Guitarist/vocalist Russ Ledford daylights as a substitute music teacher.
Why It's Worth Watching:Despite hints of early '90s pop-punk, Morning State's sound is fresher and less urgent than its influences.
For Fans Of: Jimmy Eat World, Sunny Day Real Estate, My Morning Jacket
Early this year Morning State put out an EP, the cover art of which is a bit disconcerting. Portrayed is a neon geometric mess of a sky that looks like something Piet Mondrian’s mom tacked on the refrigerator before the budding artist hit his perpendicular stride. A few menacing charcoal birds swoop toward some fellows trekking along the bottom. The aptly-titled EP is known as Retreat!!!.
But despite its liberal use of exclamation points, Morning State’s debut is hardly frenetic. “Our songs tend to be on the shorter end of things, and they’re pop formula,” says guitarist and vocalist Russ Ledford. “They're kind of that early '90s/late '80s kind of sound.”
Retreat!!!— produced by Geoff Melkonian (Modern Skirts)—does have odd tinges of the bands many mid-20s music lovers may have scribbled onto high-school notebooks. Each song blooms with a thin, Fender sound that has potential to upgrade into urgency. But they just never quite explode like ‘90s pop-leaning punk such as Lagwagon or the Vandals. “I kinda get stuck back 10, 20, 30 years ago and don't pay attention to [current music],” Ledford says.
Since neither Ledford nor his musical counterparts were seriously involved in high school bands, Morning State is something of a musical DeLorean from the ‘90s. The band may have an older sound, but one that warrants a double-take. “The big thing with us is we didn't really know what being in a band was like,” Ledford says. “I don't know what it was—lack of intellect or something like that. I just didn't really know how to get it going and how to really play shows and all that. I was pretty shy as a kid.”
Having formed three years ago, the band spent its early years traipsing between Athens and Atlanta, Ga. as the members completed their staggered graduations. “I just had a cheap Casio keyboard and a guitar and a cheap bass that my roommate had,” Ledford recalls. He presented his ideas to the others, and what started out as a hobby soon resulted in a debut EP. “We will have played our 100th show this year, but 80 of those have been this year—literally,” he says. “Before that we were just kind of practicing.”
And with so much attention being devoted to the Atlanta scene, the band seems to be catching a good—albeit, populated—wave. For a group with a full-length tentatively scheduled for next spring, the time could be right, even if there are so many other bands to compete with. “Every time you try and play a show in Atlanta, you're competing with two or three others,” Ledford says. “That is difficult, and the crowds are sparse.”
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