The Cassettes~ "I've Been Gone Far Too Long" 7" CONTEST!
The Cassettes are releasing a BRAND NEW 7" with three great songs on it!
I know you're dying to get your hands on a copy and The Cassettes & Sepiachord Want to Help you Accomplish this Desire!
So how can You get your hands on this classy slab of vinyl for free?
(That's right I said FREE!)
Well crank up the cogs on your Thinking Cap and COMPOSE A HAIKU about the cover of this wonderful record!
The entrant who composes the most striking haiku (as a-judged by The Cassettes & the Sepiachord Crew) will receive a copy of the "I've Been Gone Far Too Long" 7" in a nifty non-ebony color *and* the haiku will find it's way into a future song by The Cassettes!
Deadline is 11:59 PM (Pacific Time) April the 25th 2011.
The Cassettes took pause late in 2008 after a show in Arlington, VA at the now-legendary Kansas Street House. Also around that time, the band released their genre-exploding album Countach on cassette tape and bid farewell to Buddyhead Records as well as their booking agent. Returning to a purely DIY operation, the band retreated from the live circuit as the various members spread out to other projects.
Guitarist/vocalist Shelby Cinca's post-punk band of future-past, Frodus, burst forth again with live appearances and new recordings. Accordionist/ Moogist/ vocalist Stephen Guidry founded and currently fronts The Torches. Drummer/tabla-ist Saadat Awan continued to grow his USDB Bhangra music night into one of the most successful dance parties in Washington, D.C., while thereminist Arthur Harrison entered his secretive domain where he continuously hones his theremin creations.
Meanwhile, the Cassettes weren't completely inactive as a band: they combed the archives to pull together the "rarities" album Writing Analog Letters in 2010 as well as buying back the rights to their acclaimed 'Neath The Pale Moon album and re-releasing it online as well as delving into film music. From his monastic hillock in Göteborg, Sweden, called upon his comrades with a renewed vigor, in order to reconvene for new recordings by flinging digital files to and fro across the Atlantic. Old songs were re-examined and worked over, classics were considered, and at least one entirely new track was created from the out-takes of an as of yet un-announced related project.
In the end, Stephen momentarily swapped his accordion for a banjo and projectionist Nick Kraly joined in on bass to round out a collection of brand new songs called I've Been Gone Far Too Long…
The brief release picks up where 'Neath The Pale Moon left off, alluding to the paradoxes of analog life in the digital age and focusing in particular on the (im)possibilities of reconnecting with lost loves and past friendships, especially after journeys far away from home. The songs meditate on the idea that, even as communication and travel seem infinitely augmented by technology, the wandering mind still finds itself struggling to bridge the spaces and distances.. The 7" vinyl version even includes a post-card which urges the listener to make a first step towards reconnection, hand to pen and pen to paper.
This three-song EP, though, is really a hint of things to come as the band finalizes their plans to record an album this fall in Louisiana amongst Stephen's folk, a scheme the band has let steep for five years or more. In the meantime, The Cassettes have shows and appearances this Spring as far-flung as an anachronistic "Steampunk" convention in New York City, shows in Pennsylvania, hometown gigs in their favorite D.C. and Virginia haunts and beyond. I've Been Gone Far Too Long… is a weathered post-card born by hand and wire through downpours and snowy drifts and sweaty lodges that anticipates the careful scripting of a lengthier, long-overdue letter to come. The Cassettes continue to explore the musical landscapes that they discover, even as this release might betray a longing gaze homeward, toward kith and kin.
