Instant Empire Strikes Back
by Charlie Sullivan
Local alternative rockers Instant Empire took a leap of faith this past year and are about to be compensated for the consistent effort they’ve put into their music. With the solidified line-up of Scotty Saunders (vocals), Sean Connaughty (guitar), Aaron Stone (bass, vocals), Doug Chase (keys, guitar, percussion), Lou Kucera (guitar, vocals), and Tristan Kelley (drums) the lads set off for Philadelphia in October of 2014 under the tutelage Jonathan Low to record some new music. Things worked out so well that after the recording sessions for the soon to be released Lamplight Lost, June 23rd, they hooked up with John Vanderslice and headed off to San Francisco in the latter half of October to record the second half of the record. Prior to their travels Chris Tyng, Grow Music Project, connected with the band and produced the “Dead Air” single. The turn that Instant Empire has taken with the new music is astounding, fans of the band and soon to be fans are in for a treat. The band has been around for four years and they weren’t happy with where they were musically, they needed to find their Mike Mogis.
“We took a definitive step as a band about a year ago,” says Saunders, “I was walking back from lunch and thinking where are we, where are we going to record our new record.”“We were rehearsing one night and I threw down the gauntlet,” continues Saunders, “Since that night there’s been a big difference in our thought process.”
“We were talking about how we could go about finding someone great to work with,” says Connaughty, “And came up with the idea to reach out to all of the top producers we could think of.”
“It worked out and John Vanderslice got in touch with us, things started to fall into place after the call,” adds Connaughty.
The evolution that the crew has taken with the new material is stunning to say the least. The band has always come at their music with a lot of humility. Now they’ve cleared a big hurdle and have learned to believe in themselves and not be jackasses. They’re last EP, Keep Up, was the bands attempt to let people know they could rock with an abrasive edge. They were trying to be tough and show a little attitude. It didn’t suit the band.
The time spent with Low and Vanderslice revealed a new side to the band. The group let their guard down and learned that they could have softer spots in their songs; they didn’t need to be as tough and could stay true to the songs. The new music maintains the punchy flare that the band has always had, “Young Adult Fiction” and “Flickering Youth”. The new songs “Neighbor Girl” and “Zoo Lions” have a slower groove, something the band hadn’t really experimented with. The songs are quietly powerful and the energy builds as the songs progress; it’s great music and the new tempo suits the bands dynamics.
The feature song from the album is “Dead Air” and the accompanying video is incredible. The song takes on coping with loss, the fear of dying, being left alone, cheating death, and feeling cheated; it’s a powerful piece of music. The video takes a young girl trying to cope with loss (is this really happening or is it all just all in my head) and uses spirit animals to bring the message home; it’s all beautifully done.
The band is in the middle of an extensive promo project with Team Clermont out of Georgia to ramp up the release of the new album. They’ve also pumped the release with an OpenAir session on Colorado Public Radio. This is infinitely bigger than anything the band has ever done, wish them luck.
“To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible, and inconceivable.”
Dead Air Video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y84ZeVCIQ5M&feature=youtu.be
OpenAir Session- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoXq_6uDO64
Category: Buzzworthy
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