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Harlan w/ Reception is Suspected

Harlan condenses Appalachian folk and classic rock into three-minute
Brit-pop explosions. Harlan’s lyrics tell fractured stories wrapped
around synth hooks and AM radio guitar solos; a collision of styles
that is strikingly modern but with genuine feeling that reaches back
to a time when that sort of thing still mattered.

Harlan began when John Harlan Norris left his job at a Sotheby’s
warehouse in Spanish Harlem, NYC to spend time writing music and
painting in a mountain cabin in his native Kentucky. The cardboard
box of resulting four-track demos eventually became the Headphone Park
EP. Norris then moved to Louisiana to pursue an MFA in painting.
When he wasn’t in the painting studio, he was in the recording studio
putting together The Still Beat — an entirely self-produced debut LP
filled with lush guitars, keyboards, and Harlan’s distinctive voice; a
lazy vibrato that delivers razor sharp lyrics that are sometimes
heartfelt and sometimes cruel.

Now, Norris has assembled a band that injects the songs from The Still
Beat with a new sense of energy and urgency. Harlan now includes
Scott Campbell, Casey McAllister, John Bossier, and Britt King.  

Sam Anselmo and Noah Danos of Reception is Suspected describe themsleves as “a rock band without guitars”.

Here’s a brief description of the recording of their last album:

Two days before Hurricane Katrina slammed the South-coast, Sam Anselmo and Noah Danos of the Tech-Rock duo Reception Is Suspected, were ignoring the weather warnings and feverishly finishing their debut album. “We had a to get it to Jeff Lipton (Peerless Mastering) that week but knew we would at least be loosing power for a couple days.” Having recently moved their studio from New Orleans to Baton Rouge the boys felt safe from the brunt of the storm. So with a house full of evacuees “The New American Etiquette” was finished. 

The album’s sound is massive. Imagine the power of Bonham’s drums, mixed with the childlike melodies of Kraftwerk, and run through a nasty Big Muff Distortion pedal. Can you hear it?

Reception Is Suspected’s live show is an energetic workout. No checking email behind laptops. No feet gently tapping to muted beats or loud whispers. It is a full on rock fest Zeppelin would be proud of. “Primarily we are a live band. There is a connection between us and the audience and our machines respond to that enthusiasm,” Danos describes. “It is cool to dance again, to sweat, to leave with a smile, that’s sexy, that’s rock-n-roll.”