ARTIST: A Whisper In The Noise TITLE: As The Bluebird Sings LABEL: 2-3 Recordings/Transdreamer Records GENRE: Rock BITRATE: 199kbps avg PLAYTIME: 0h 49min total RELEASE DATE: 2006-04-18 RIP DATE: 2006-03-18 Track List ---------- 01. The Tale Of Two Doves 4:36 02. As The Bluebird Sings 5:39 03. The Carpenters' Coalmen 3:56 04. Through Wounds We Soon Will 4:16 Stitch 05. Hell's Half Acre 4:10 06. Havoc 7:05 07. Until The Time It's Over 6:13 08. The Sounding Line 5:38 09. Bridal 2:45 10. The Times They Are A-Changin' 5:09 Release Notes: "A Whisper in the Noise evokes a lullaby only half remembered, and the half remembered suggests a companion melody that (though unheard) is somehow unspeakably sad." -- Steve Albini "Think the brilliance of groups like Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Massive Attack, and then think again," theprp.com West Dylan Thordson savors solitude. His atmospheric music is a reflection of his world, his mood, and his environment. Thordson grew up on a large patch of farmland in rural Minnesota and currently resides and creates in the Hanska, MN (population 365) abandoned elementary school that he attended as a child. The school closed in the early 90’s and is attached to a high school that shut its doors in the 1960’s. Thordson finds himself songwriting in the music room he played in as a child and wandering the empty, haunting halls at night sometimes blasting music throughout. In 2002 Thordson formed Minneaplis-based A Whisper in the Noise (AWITN) with Sonja Larson (vocals, violin,) Rachel Drehmann (french horn,) Andrew Broste (bass,) and Nicholas Conner (drums, percussion). The following year they released their debut album, Ides of March, with band devotee Steve Albini recording. Albini needed only two days to capture the beauty, anger, and sadness that is A Whisper In The Noise. Impressed with the recording sessions, Albini took AWITN to Europe to open a string of shows for Shellac. As The Bluebird Sings, produced by Tom Herbers (Low, Soul Asylum, The Jayhawks, Victoria Williams and The Church) is ripe with purity and emotion. When asked how A Whisper in the Noise’s album title As The Bluebird Sings came about, Thordson replies, “A bluebird will still sing whether or not the world around it is collapsing. It represents purity to me.” A dramatic and dark sense of loneliness, emptiness and intimacy are reflected within the 10 tracks. From the mysterious melancholy of “Hells Half Acre” and the heart-tugging vocal-tonal-teardrop of “Through Wounds We Soon Will Stitch,” to the dynamic balancing of the sweetness of a lullaby with the sadness of a never-ending-solitary-season demonstrated in “The Sounding Line”, As The Bluebird Sings’ depth and range is executed in a precise, yet languid dynamic; overlapping and intermingling of piano, violin, French horn, children choirs, and haunting vocals over the bastardized foundation of bass and percussion. The record closes with a gut-wrenching rendition of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’”. A Whisper In the Noise shares musical categorization with bands such as Black Heart Procession, Red Sparowes, GYBE!, Low and Sigur Ros. Thordson has been inspired by Philip Glass, John Lennon, Roger Waters and Arvo Part. Bob Dylan has a place in Thordson’s heart as well. When he was 18 and discovered Time Out of Mind -- “it was the singular album that changed my life.” A Whisper In The Noise have toured the UK with Shellac and Mogwai and were greatly received at All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival in Europe. They’ve received rave reviews on their homefront in the pages of St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minneapolis Star Tribune, City Pages, and Pulse of The Twin Cities as well as in NYC’s highly revered, respected and influential Village Voice.