The Chapin Sisters + Sean Rowe July 18, 2011

THE CHAPIN SISTERS are Lily & Abigail Chapin. Their recent full length album, TWO - is released in the UK & Europe on June 6th via their own Lake Bottom Records. It was preceeded by the release of the live EP - Oh, Hear The Wind Blow in January.

Abigail and Lily Chapin are known for pristine harmonies and haunting melodies. Though they have gained comparisons to sister acts of old, they have also deviated from that comparison "more like a distaff Lennon/McCartney than a traditional sibling act..." (Steve Horowitz, Popmatters). Their songs defy genre, melding elements of pop, blues and psychedelic rock with hints of apalacian banjo riffs, echoing percussion and modal harmonies. Their first full-length record Lake Bottom LP was produced by Thom Monahan (Lily's, Devendra Bandhart, Vetiver) and Mike Daily (Whiskeytown, Grace Potter). The record was critically acclaimed and named one of LA Weekly's Top Ten Records of 2008.

Their sophomore full-length recording, "Two," adds lush keyboards, pulsing rhythms, electric guitars, and bare accoustic tones to layers of vocals that range from deep and gutteral to watery and ethereal. The landscape is hinted at throughout the album; "new tracks like I Can Feel, Paradise, and Sweet Light are pastoral yet eerie, as the duo's searing voices echo through the woods like melancholic ghosts." ("Falling" James Moreland - LA Weekly).

http://www.thechapinsisters.com/

Rowe's honest and haunting songwriting have already earned comparisons to Van Morrison's Astral Weeks phase, for his abstract lyric phrasing, and the way he crafts an experience of emotion, rather than telling a linear tale. Most powerfully he brings to mind Leonard Cohen, with songwriting which tends to build into powerful, yet vulnerable, cathedral-like monuments of sound. The song "American," with its yearning strings and earnest piano bring chills and a catch in your throat. Magic is Sean Rowe's homage to what he believes in, to what he finds magical in the world. The themes of love, innocence, sex and nature prevail in its heartfelt, crafted songs. On the ambient, deeply resonant closer "The Long Haul," Rowe's voice crackles with life. "And I never hit the spring so hard/ a newborn song on an old guitar/ and I know what it means to be alive," he sings. And like the most evocative, important works of art, Magic begs the question of its listener: What makes you feel alive?
http://www.seanrowe.net/

Official Website: http://www.jamminjava.com/