 Silver Pines San Marcos TX, based Silver Pines inhabit a beautifully translucent space between dark hollows and an airy evening glow. Under the soulful sway of Stefanie Franciotti's mesmerizing vocals, the songs linger breathlessly, slide guitar and softly eerie beats unfolding a dreamscape that justifies the band's comparisons to Mazzy Star, but evoking a rich expanse of the Texas horizon. Profile: Silver Pines Year Formed: 2006 Members/Instruments played: Stefanie Franciotti: Saw, Slide, Vocals, Melodica
Jesse Jenkins: Guitar, Vocals
Justin Goers: Fuzz Bass
Zac Roesch: Drums, Percussion
Austin Youngblood: Ukulele, Tenor Guitar, Banjo
Adam Jones: Baritone, Keys
Amber Ormand: Vocals, Tambourine, Tape Player Former Bands/Side Projects: Thousand Foot Whale Claw, Porch Crowd, Grace and the Grackles, and a covert derelict barn band coming soon. Albums: Fort Walnut , 2007. No label as of yet… Influences: Os Mutantes, Bright Black Morning Light, Incredible String Band, Carter Family, Kaleidoscope, Tyrannosaurs Rex, Om, Feathers. Strangest comment or comparison ever made about your music: "This is this music I lost my virginity to." "You sound like Mazzy's little sister." "This is my stoner Disneyland fantasy." Some of your favorite albums from the past year: Entrance "Prayer of Death", Panda Bear; "Person Pitch", Beach House S/T; Feathers S/T; "You, You're a History in Rust", Do Make Say Think (holy shit, vocals); "Our Love To Admire", Interpol; "Pilgrimage", Om. Ideal band (past or present) to open for on a national tour: Ronettes, Tyrannosaurs Rex, Syd Barrett Austin Sound questions:
You're official debut album, Fort Walnut, is coming out soon. What can you tell us about the experience of making the album, especially in comparison to the tapes y'all have put out earlier? We recorded most of this album during the summer in this old, wooden dance hall outside of Shiner, TX called Weid Hall. It was really hot so we had to record everything after dark, which also accounts for the army of insect sounds on the EP. Recording live to tape is obviously much faster than tracking each instrument. The sound quality is completely different, and much more charming and real sounding than what you can expect from a studio. It was a task to retain those qualities using high tech equipment, but Steven Orsak is, apparently, a sound wizard. Beautiful stars in Shiner. With so many players in the band, what's your process for arranging the songs? Are they written more collaboratively and organically, or are there principle songwriters? Stefanie and Jesse try to write the songs before they get to practice but everything changes once the band gets more ideas going. Collaborativity and Organicality work together, like free trade coffee. Song Introduction: “Threadbare Coat” was a tough song to work out - some of us thought the song was worthless, some of us thought it was fantastic. In the end (obviously) it worked out, with us deciding to tweak a little here and there. After one of our vocalists left for Japan, we'd thought it was done for, but Amber stepped in to salvage that aspect of the song. “Lionmen” was another rough song to settle. A lot of instrumentation was added in part to improve sound, but also to keep people from looking bored. In a calmer song it's tough to keep everyone pleased, especially with tempo changes and that type of thing. This song is like a car that breaks down but is always worth the money to fix. Sound Off: San Marcos, for all of its blemishes, has incubated us like a mother who used to work for CPS and knows all its faults. God forbid an Electra/Oedipus complex sets in because the town is too crowded and the police hide suspicious eyes behind their glasses.  The Juncos The Juncos are Josh Stacy and Joshua Lowe |
