New album from The Armoires (California indie pop): "Octoberland" out October 11 from Big Stir Records
BIG STIR RECORDS is proud to announce the 11th October release of the new album from California indie pop quintet THE ARMOIRES on Vinyl, CD, and all Digital platforms. **OCTOBERLAND**, the band's fourth full-length release, is an invigorating eleven-track collection of amped-up, richly detailed pop gems, including the indie hit singles “We Absolutely Mean It,” “Music & Animals,” “Here Comes The Song,” and the forthcoming “Ridley & Me After The Apocalypse.” It's up for pre-order and pre-save now: https://orcd.co/armoires-octoberland
The latest singles from THE ARMOIRES – the Burbank, California-based band led by CHRISTINA BULBENKO (vocals, keys) and REX BROOME (vocals, guitar), also known as the founders of Big Stir Records – have exuded equal parts brash confidence and sophisticated mystery. There's been the swirling psych-pop manifesto “We Absolutely Mean It,” the sweetly comforting “Music & Animals,” the dramatic strings-driven “Here Comes The Song” and, up next, the giddy post-punk pulsebeat of “Ridley & Me After The Apocalypse.” All of them display the band reveling in their unique sound: the ambiguously androgynous harmonies of Broome and Bulbenko, the intricate instrumental interplay between LARYSA BULBENKO's endlessly versatile viola and the electric 12-strings, sweeping synths, and delicate piano of the band leaders, and the unerringly empathetic rhythms of JOHN M. BORACK (drums) and CLIFFORD ULRICH (bass).
Produced like all the band's new material with a deft pure pop touch by MICHAEL SIMMONS (of labelmates sparkle*jets u.k.), the tracks have proven the most accessible and popular entries in The Armoires' discography while still retaining the fundamental, slightly eerie mystique of their unique sonic signature. That sound – a bright, brash amalgam of expansive New Pornographers-inspired lit-rock, '90s twee-pop and dream rock, the college rock heights of R.E.M. and Echo & The Bunnymen, and a bedrock of Byrds-and-Jefferson-Airplane electric folk roots – unifies the album. But it's the sly yet heartfelt sophistication of the songs that makes **OCTOBERLAND** such a rewarding experience and a new watershed for The Armoires.
The album reveals the singles, for all their infectious energy, to be part of a deeply considered and immersively involving song cycle. “The songs were all written at once by Rex and myself,” says Christina, “and while we built them around some joyous, almost childlike chorus hooks like counting, spelling, chanting and nonsense syllables, something deeper started happening underneath it all. Imagery and themes kept surfacing over and over again. Omens, ravens and crows, snakes, cats, our own band name, October, and ultimately our semi-utopian destination of Octoberland... references to myths, literature, folklore, and modern media as part of a unifying continuum. So much started tying the songs together that it felt as much like world-building as songwriting, and we were so fascinated by the way they were.”
