White Violet, Semicircle

Stay Lost is the second album from White Violet and the first one recorded outside the band's home base of Athens, Georgia. The eleven songs were tracked in Kernersville, NC, with Scott Solter, a master engineer known for his work with the likes of Centro-Matic, Spoon, and Superchunk. Over the course of a few weeks, Vaughan Lamb (bass/vocals), Brad Morgan (Guitar), Lemuel Hayes (drums), and Nate Nelson (guitars/vocals) fully immersed themselves in the production of this record. There were no significant others to go home to after the session ended. No buddies to meet up with at the bar. No shitty jobs to worry about in the morning. Only a studio and plenty of time to find the right sounds. And it shows. Stay Lost is a huge step forward for the band.

White Violet's debut, Hiding, Mingling, was the brainchild of Nelson. The beautiful and mostly spare showing occupied the dark corners of the town in which he grew up. The occasional glimmer of a full-band sound demonstrated a penchant for breezy AM Gold. Promising live shows and a later single, "Autumn Grove," pushed White Violet further out of the dim confines of Nelson's bedroom and into the wide-open space they collectively explore throughout Stay Lost. The album soars aloft ethereal guitars, airtight melodies, and eccentric and galvanizing rhythms. Big opener "Weighs" finds White Violet riding Lamb's Krautrock-inspired groove into new sonic territory. "Fernandina" is perhaps the band's best song yet, an upbeat love letter replete with chiming guitars and a razor-sharp hook. A prime example of White Violet's developing pop sensibilities. The title track and "Grow Tall," as well as the re-working of "Autumn Grove," with it's original guitar riff unseated by a grimy bass line, further illustrate an growing ear for earworms. Even lower-key numbers like "Topical" witness a progression; the emotional moments packing a stronger wallop than before

Walker Percy's The Moviegoer implored the reader to embrace the search. "Not to be onto something is to be in despair," he wrote. While writing Stay Lost, Nelson constantly asked himself, "Where is my home?" The question drove him to draw from places and situations that he knew very little about, rather than the familiar, youthful experiences in Athens that inspired the bulk ofHiding, Mingling. "Mystery," for example, was sparked by an obsession with survivalists living on the Alaskan frontier. "Fernandina" tells the romantic story of a 24-hour stay in a beachside motel. "Thankfully" sees Nelson fall in love with every fleeting town he passes through on tour. "I can find another place I'd rather see," he asserts on that song, the album's final track. This mindset took White Violet outside of the comfort zone and helped the band find its current stride. But things are only just getting started. This is a band that is onto something.

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Semicircle formed in 2010 in Athens, GA as less of a band and more of an experiment. Driven by Andrew McFarland (Reptar, Co Co Ri Co, Giant Giants), the group's first shows were a completely improvised, come-all-who-may, open format interpretation of a series of songs by McFarland, intended as a study into the ability of music to connect people's consciouses. After roughly half a year of performances of cultivated madness, and due largely to the prodding of the recurring members, the band slowly began to solidify into a more contained group of musicians. Semicircle's first release, a self titled tape only EP released in 2011 on Quality Faucet Records and Diatom Bath, was an experiment of a different sort. Written and recorded over the month of January in his childhood house in Decatur, GA, McFarland explored ideas of home with the applied limitation of one microphone and a four track tape machine. In 2012, McFarland moved from Athens to Atlanta to record Semicircle's first full length record, Blown Breeze, Grown Grass and We are Part of the Earth, out November 18, 2014. Moving forward, Semicircle has expanded to include the writing efforts of Ryan Engelberger (Reptar, Casual Curious, Giant Giants). The McFarland/Engelberger team has been performing around the Southeast, garnering comparisons to Fleetwood Mac, Wilco, The Microphones/Mount Eerie, Grizzly Bear, Spoon, etc.