Ari Hest + Katie Costello April 20, 2011

The release of Sunset Over Hope Street on March 1, 2011 via Downtown Records' Mercer Street imprint marks Ari Hest's first full-length album of new material in four years. That's not to say he hasn't been busy in the years in between.

After releasing The Break-In on Columbia Records in 2007, Ari decided it was time to take more creative control over his music and parted ways with his label. Utilizing all the technology available to him, in 2008 he launched his highly successful 52 project, a web based subscription service that found him writing, recording, and releasing a new song every Monday for an entire year. For those keeping track, that's 52 new songs in 52 weeks! Performing Songwriter called these songs "high-caliber and heartfelt." At the end of the year, the subscribers were asked to vote for their 12 favorite songs from the project and the ones that got the most votes were then reworked and digitally released in the form of the album Twelve Mondays in early 2009. The Washington Post wrote "An urbane folk-rocker with a sonorous baritone, Ari Hest sounds like a man out of time" and said Twelve Mondays was "skillful, pretty and straightforward."

52 helped Ari explore different genres and experiment with new instrumentation. And even with 40 unreleased songs under his belt after the release of Twelve Mondays, Ari kept on writing and experimenting. The end result, Sunset Over Hope Street, is a slight departure from his previous work. Ari expressed his self-challenging nature by taking his guitar parts and seeing if another lead instrument, like a piano, could take the guitar's place. The album is also awash with a variety of string arrangements and unique percussion parts.

Unlike previous albums, Sunset Over Hope Street was created over a protracted period of time - more than a year. Because of this, Ari was really able to take time, listen back and edit - a luxury that on previous albums had not been afforded him. There were vocals, drums, guitar parts, and even full songs that wound up being scrapped and others added as the album evolved. His patience paid off and the result, despite this different approach, is unmistakably Ari Hest.

There are a lot of themes covered on this record; from existential songs like "Until Next Time" and "A Good Look Around", to the more politically driven "Business of America" and "Swan Song". One theme that pops up repeatedly throughout the album is the passage of time - trying to take advantage of opportunities as they arise ("If I Knew You'd Say Yes"), lamenting the missed opportunities ("Sunset Over Hope Street"), wondering if anything better will come along in the future ("How Would I Know") - these are thoughts that linger in life, sometimes motivating and occasionally stunting one's evolution.

Ari has built his career the old fashioned way, doing 150 dates a year for the better part of the last decade. In the past 24 months, he has added Europe into the mix through multiple tours in Ireland, Czech Republic, Germany and Belgium. Film and television has also expanded Ari's fan base. His music has been licensed numerous times to shows such as Private Practice and One Tree Hill, and he scored the film Dreamriders, which won numerous independent film awards, and also featured several of Ari's songs.

Ari's 2010 side project entitled The Open Sea, a duo with fellow singer/songwriter Rosi Golan, was also very well received both by fans and in the licensing world. Their work garnered three major television placements in the first six weeks after the release of their EP called Little Apple.

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As musicians and music-listeners alike venture into a creative climate in which technological elements often define an artist's sonic and visual identity, Katie Costello emerges as a unique & timeless example of an authentic artisan shinning amidst the frequently clouded backdrop of modernity. Almost as if her spirit has been frozen in another day and age, her perspective is one that far exceeds her surprisingly young age. She writes about the human condition - Our ever present desire to find peace, identity, home, and understanding.

Katie Costello's upcoming release "Lamplight," produced by Los Angeles-based music guru Tony Berg (Jesca Hoop, Aimee Mann, Michael Penn), reflects her distinctively conversational, yet poetic lyrical approach. Deeply personal, her songs are impressionistic and beckon to the lonely, disconnected nature of our times. Although initial listeners might find a carefree and happy-go-lucky element in her music, she writes songs that are meant to be revisited and experienced over and over again. Katie's music seems to reward those who are searching and wanting something more than what is presented at the surface. Beyond their initially unique and eloquent phrasing, Katie's lyrics comment upon the dark human issues we all undoubtably face. With a lush and dirty-beautiful electric guitar backdrop, "Ashes Ashes" is empowering and moving in it's commentary of self-actualization. "After Dark" paints a grey and painful landscape of a broken, seemingly infallible family relationship.

Each song seems to understand itself and does not fight to express it's most profound or subtle concepts, regardless of how far below the surface they vibrate with intensity. There are strong elements of humor, loss, and subtle sarcasm that offer a different experience for each listener. "I think of every album as a very particular period of time and thematic contemplation in my life. I write what has happened to me and what I have felt, simply because I want to understand it. Songwriting is something that I happen to do and is not something that I regard with a great deal of personal responsibility. I thank the Universe for our human ability to create." "Lamplight" reflects this desire to understand our existence, yet simultaneously expresses an understanding that the answers to our deepest questions can only be discussed, and not discovered.

Katie's latest release, "The City In Me" EP, is a spirited, clever, and haunting collection of songs that chronicle Costello's relationship with the concept of home, and with various cities (particularly New York and Los Angeles). Produced by one of Katie's closest friends, current band member, and musical prodigy, David Lamoureux, the EP reflects the relaxed and creatively daring approach Katie and her collaborators bring to her sonic identity.

Katie's previous full-length release, "Kaleidoscope Machine," was a vibrant and refreshing collection of identity-searching compositions. Already at a young age, Katie's perspective and creative mission is heard in her music. Nic Harcourt of KCRW noticed her determined and innate creative nature by saying, "It's good to know what one wants to be when one grows up. At 17, Hermosa Beach resident Katie Costello is making her path clear."

Katie's music is on KCRW (89.9 Santa Monica) "Morning Becomes Eclectic" and was chosen as their "KCRW Top Tune of the Day" free iTunes download. Her songs have been featured on the CW shows, "90210," "One Tree Hill," and ABC's "Private Practice." Her debut album, "Kaleidoscope Machine" is available on iTunes & was the iTunes "Indie Artist Spotlight." Her song "Isn't It Lovely" was the grand-prize winner of Sennheiser's "My Song Contest," which also landed her a performance at the 2010 NAMM conference. Paste Magazine recently featured her song "Inside Out" in their "New Music Sampler," alongside The Monsters of Folk and Sufjan Stevens
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Official Website: http://www.jamminjava.com/