GEOGRAPHER SHARE "NEED" VIA VICE'S NOISEY ANNOUNCE NATIONAL TOUR Ghost Modern Available March 24, 2015 on Roll Call Records Tour Kicks off February 27, 2014 with Headlining Noise Pop Performance at Oakland, CA's Fox Theater "Lead by reverb-heavy drums that sound like they were mic'ed in an arena, "Need" has a synth-heavy heavy approach complete with M83-like multipart vocals and a similar expansive feel. Eat your heart out Anthony Gonzalez. - Noisey |
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San Francisco-based romantic indie pop outfit Geographer is pleased to share "Need," the latest single from his upcoming LP release, Ghost Modern, available March 24, 2015 on Roll Call Records. The track is streaming over at Vice's Noisey and you can listen here. Adding to the offering Geographer will be hitting the road this spring for a national tour highlighted with a headlining performance at Noise Pop on February 27th at Oakland's Fox Theater as well as select appearances at SXSW. See below for a full list of dates. On the twelve songs comprising Ghost Modern, composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mike Deni creates timeless compositions with blossoming synthesizers paired with precise orchestral arrangements. Growing increasingly tired with the lack of emphasis on songwriting prevalent in today's popular culture, here Geographer has fashioned his most cohesive and compelling work to date. "I took a great deal of time crafting the songs for this album before arranging them, before blowing them out with swelling sonic textures that might override or overshadow the need to make the song - at its core - the most important thing," explains Deni. An almost Freudian attraction to water engulfs Geographer's 4th studio album. Deni wrote much of the record driving out to a cliff overlooking the beach in the Presidio of San Francisco and worked on lyrics in the back of his car whenever he found a spare moment. "When I was feeling stuck I would walk down to the bluffs and sometimes down to the water and run lines in my head over and over," recalls Deni. "The vision of that massive swath of blue, promising so much beneath and revealing so little on the surface, so terrifying but so beautiful, like ourselves. It was a huge image in my mind, it finds its way into a lot of songs, most notably 'I'm Ready.'" Having taken the time to meticulously craft the songs on the record proved to be one of Deni's most difficult and greatest learning experiences. "I'm Ready", which was the last song written for Ghost Modern, in the end tied everything together. Here the protagonist, appearing throughout the record, is ready to give up. Ready to give in. As the guitars begin to bloom and rhythm begins to build, he suddenly finds himself ready to stare into the unknowable depths of existence and to raise his head and look at the world. Look at the people around him. Another benchmark in the writing process for Ghost Modern appears on "Patience." Here Deni claims to have written his "first simple song.""I had all these crazy, circuitous metaphors, and complicated twists in the lyrics as I have a tendency to throw everything I see in front of me into a song," he confesses. The song was written over the course of an afternoon while standing on a deck of a friend's house overlooking the ocean while he gazed at the specks of people below temping his companionship in the endless blue ocean of everything and nothing. In the end the song was recorded in one take and its simplicity was greatly encouraged by producer Eli Crews. "For me it was like surfing on a whale, almost slipping off the whole time, but ultimately its austerity gives an almost effortless truth and beauty to the song." "The general theme of the album is picking up where I left off with Myth and saying, great, so life has no discernable meaning or purpose, and your life is a dream. I thought that was the most important thing, to pull back the covers on that situation, on the lies we feast on to keep calm. But the truth is, you're still stuck here, whether it's meaningless or not, explains Deni. "I pushed past Post Modernism into something darker, something emptier: Ghost Modernism." |
  Photo Credit: Victoria Smith |
3/12: San Diego, CA @ Casbah - ticket link 3/13: Phoenix, AZ @ Viva Phoenix - ticket link 3/18: Austin, TX @ SXSW: Cedar St. Courtyard - INgrooves / Flood Showcase 3/19: Austin, TX @ SXSW: TBA 3/20: Austin, TX @ SXSW: Blackheart - Roll Call / Indie Shuffle Showcase 3/21: Austin, TX @ SXSW: Rainey St - Culture Collide Showcase 3/23: Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge - ticket link 3/24: Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge - ticket link 3/25: Boise, ID @ Neurloux - ticket link 3/26: Seattle, WA @ Neumos - ticket link 3/27: Bellingham, WA @ Wild Buffalo - ticket link 3/28: Eugene, OR @ Sam Bonds Garage - ticket link 5/6: Portland, OR @ Doug Fir - ticket link 5/7: Spokane, WA @ The Big Dipper - ticket link 5/8: Billings, MT @ The Pub Station - ticket link 5/10: Fargo, ND @ Aquarium - ticket link 5/11: Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry - ticket link 5/12: Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall - ticket link 5/13: Columbus, OH @ Rumba - ticket link 5/15: Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig - ticket link 5/16: Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dees 5/17: Montreal, QC @ Fairmount Theatre - ticket link 5/19: Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall - ticket link 5/21: Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg - ticket link 5/22: Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer - ticket link 5/23: Washington, DC @ U St Music Hall - ticket link 5/24: Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 - ticket link 5/26: Atlanta, GA @ The Earl - ticket link 5/27: New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa - ticket link 5/28: Houston, TX @ Fitzgeralds - ticket link 5/29: Dallas, TX @ Trees - ticket link 5/30: Austin, TX @ Mohawk - ticket link + w/ K.Flay, Empires, Bells Atlas |