ARTIST: The Minders
TITLE: It's A Bright Guilty World
LABEL: Future Farmer Recordings
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 197kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 40m total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-07-18
RIP DATE: 2006-05-09
Track List
----------
1. "There Goes My Formula!" 1:06
2. Don't You Stop 3:13
3. Red Admiral's (Gonna Pass Me) 2:21
4. Accidental Joy 2:35
5. Crest of the Hill 2:54
6. Same Time, Same Place 3:44
7. Savour All the Days 2:11
8. Jenny 2:24
9. In the Middle of Your Love 2:55
10. Saturday Morning 2:53
11. Remember, Remember 2:32
12. 357 4:38
13. Glittering Dream 3:06
14. Guns of August 4:18
Release Notes:
It's been ten years since Martyn Leaper and Robert Schneider collaborated and
introduced the Minders to the world with the 7-inch Come On and Hear!!--and with
the release of the band's fourth full-length Bright, Guilty World on Future
Farmer Recordings, things have come full-circle. While each of them has been
busy all these years forging separate yet like-minded paths in the pop music
landscape (Robert, of course, is leader of the Apples in Stereo and founder of
the Elephant 6 collective), Martyn realized that he once again needed his
friend's assistanceùthis time to help him craft his most ambitious record to
date.
Robert flew from Denver to Portland, Ore., and ended up recording half of the
basic tracks on Martyn's MTR90 24-track machine. "It was his innate positivism
that got the record rolling, and I was extremely excited to have him working
with us again, to say the least," says Martyn. With bandmates Rebecca Cole
(keyboards, vocals) and Joel Burrows (drums) on board as usual, the Minders
kick-started Bright, Guilty World into action.
The title is gleaned from the 1947 Orson Welles film Lady From Shanghai, with
"it's a bright, guilty world" being the words Welles speaks just before he's
asked to commit murder. "I thought that it was appropriate and posed a perfect
frame for this project," explains Martyn.
After the quick and breezy opener, "There Goes My Formula," the record launches
into the incisive and energized "Don't You Stop." With the pointed words of
Orson Welles leading the track, Martyn belts out, "It's a bright and guilty
world we live in / and every single smile you see has got to be kidding."
Written three years ago--just after the band was dropped by SpinArt
Records--"Don't You Stop" was inspired by Martyn's disillusionment with the
music business. It's an exceedingly clever, catchy, and spiteful lament;
nonetheless, he soon realized he had even grander ideas and themes for the
record. "I didn't want this record to be a rant about the woes of a lowly
four-tracker," he explains. "I actually began to think of writing a record
devoted to relationships and the struggle of love and life."
A few of the resulting tracks, "Crest of the Hill," "Savour All These Days," and
"Remember, Remember," were recorded with Larry Crane (of Tape Op fame) at
Jackpot Studios. With Crane's concise, solid production style added to the
proceedings, the band went a few steps further, bringing friend and fellow
Portlander Zach Ochen from the Kingdom and Invisible to co-produce "Remember,
Remember" and "357," and Jim Fairchild from Grandaddy to play lead guitar on
"Savour All These Days."
2004's The Future's Always Perfect was a departure for the band, seeing them
stretching their sonic palette, while also becoming more playful and confident.
Bright, Guitly World expands on the new-found possibilities that record provided
them, resulting in their grandest, most beautifully rendered collection of songs
yet. It took some friends to coax it out of them, but the Minders made a
classic.