ARTIST: Gran Bel Fisher
TITLE: Full Moon Cigarette
LABEL: Hollywood Records
GENRE: Rock
BITRATE: 210kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 47min total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-07-25
RIP DATE: 2006-06-21

Track List

01. Full Moon Cigarette             4:34
02. Far Cry                         3:59
03. Edible                          4:29
04. Moment                          3:42
05. Crash And Burn                  3:37
06. Dazey Day                       3:54
07. Do We Say Bye                   4:40
08. Blow Your Mind                  3:53
09. Bound By Love                   3:34
10. Baby Boy                        3:39
11. Change                          7:16

Release Notes:

Like so much classic literature, art, and poetry, 24-year-old GRAN
BEL FISHER's circuitous journey from rural Sabina, Ohio to Los
Angeles, California begins with something essential and ultimately
inexplicable: life, love and death. These themes are movingly
explored on his Hollywood Records debut album FULL MOON CIGARETTE
and based wholly on personal experience.

“The Littleton Funeral Home has been in my family since 1905,”
explains GRAN BEL FISHER, who has grown accustomed to the barrage
of questions about the family business. “Our attitude was that it
was a very normal occupation. Working there gave me a different
perspective on things: I realized early on that everyone has the
same reaction to death. Ultimately, I think working there made me
more sensitive to life.”

Indeed FULL MOON CIGARETTE finds GBF’s unique, life-affirming
perspective fueled by his powerful and mellifluous voice,
passionate songwriting, and consummate musicianship. Witness the
title track, which opens with GRAN BEL playing a single piano note
suddenly transformed into a complex piano fugue before exploding
into a full-throttle rock groove with his gorgeous, soaring
baritone. “The song is a reflection of my life,” he explains. “I
started thinking about how I see everything: life, love and death
and those themes embody this entire album. The songs are inspired
by my everyday realizations of life.”

FULL MOON CIGARETTE is also about GRAN BEL FISHER’s utterly
original songs and brilliant voice, which transcend fleeting
fashions and simple categorization.

Baring this out are soul-stirring tracks like “Edible,” with its
melodically-addictive chorus and GRAN BEL FISHER’s multi-octave
voice, “Far Cry’s” emotive expression of dislocation and
alienation, and “Moment,” which builds from a gentle Delta-blues
croon to a ferocious, primal roar. Elsewhere, the gorgeous ballad
“Bound by Love” explores the tension and release of heartache and
solace while the anthemic “Crash and Burn” showcases GBF’s
accomplished piano playing while simultaneously “burning the
whole place down.”

To understand GRAN BEL FISHER’s multi-faceted references, one has
to go back to Sabina, Ohio (est. population: 2,827), a
single-stop light town and farming community nicknamed the “Eden
of Ohio.” His idyllic childhood was filled with music as GBF’s
mother and father (a gifted pianist) introduced him and his three
siblings to music. “Beginning in second grade we all took piano
lessons,” he recalls. Thus began an eclectic music education
where everyone from Beethoven to Tom Waits (“my dad does the
craziest impression”), Duke Ellington to Pink Floyd, and Glenn
Miller to Janis Joplin found their way into GBF’s musical
collection. By fifth grade the budding musician had written his
first song, soloed in the church choir, and first heard--or
rather misheard--his moniker. “My Great, Great Grandfather
Granville Fisher Littleton founded the Littleton Funeral Home. I
always thought my Aunt had said his name was ‘Gran Bel Fisher’
and it stuck with me. Something about it just clicked and it
created a special connection between my music and my roots.”

By high school, GBF had taught himself guitar and was recording
original songs. In addition to acts like Led Zeppelin and Ben
Folds further informing his music purview, leading roles in two
musicals (“The Music Man” and “Brigadoon”) helped him realize
how much he enjoyed performing before audiences. It was
apparent, however, the wunderkind's 80-person high school class
couldn't contain or nurture his growing music talents. With his
parents' blessing, GBF transferred to Cincinnati's School for
the Creative & Performing Arts. “It was like ‘Fame,’” he says.
“I was living on my own in downtown Cincinnati, playing
open-mics, recording on an 8-track, and my songwriting was
evolving.”

With overwhelmingly positive feedback, GRAN BEL FISHER left
school to pursue music full-time, working in a restaurant and
woodshedding dozens and dozens of new songs. “I know this part
is going to sound silly, but I swear its true” he says
sheepishly, “One night I had this dream that I had to go to
New York City. I told my dad about it the next day and he was
like, ‘You gotta go with your gut.’” GBF contacted a friend of
friend who worked in the music industry. “I showed up at their
office with my guitar and started playing.” And, what usually
happens when GRAN BEL FISHER performs live happened: people
were blown-away. This led to a cross-country move to Los
Angeles and a life-changing introduction.

“I met [producer and songwriter] Dave Bassett at a party and the
next day I went to his house,” GBF recalls. “I played a few
measures and he started playing along. I stopped mid-song and
said, ‘You're the guy!’ In that moment I just knew. We had this
unspoken musical chemistry I've never had with anybody else.”

Within days, Bassett and GRAN BEL FISHER recorded demo versions
of “Edible,” “Moment,” and “Do We Say Bye.” Demo in hand, GBF
played exactly one showcase at L.A.'s famed Viper Room before
signing with Hollywood Records.

GRAN BEL FISHER signed his contract on November 12th and by
November 14th he went into the studio collaborating with Joey
Waronker and Justin Meldal-Johnsen (who also play with Beck).
Tracking then began at the legendary Sunset Sound, where
seminal bands like Led Zeppelin and the Doors recorded. “One
night I opened up this hidden room behind a wall where Jim
Morrison did his vocals,” GBF explains. “It was very
haunting.”

The bulk of FULL MOON CIGARETTE was made in Los Angeles and
mixed in New York with Michael Brauer (Coldplay, My Morning
Jacket) and the preliminary reactions have been astonishing.
“Lyrically and musically this is the record I’ve always wanted
to make,” GBF says. “The journey of making this album, even
with some hard times and problems I ran into along the way,
was really just a blessing in disguise.” And with one listen
to FULL MOON CIGARETTE, you’ll understand exactly what he
means.