Further Afield
+/- {Plus/Minus}
May 31, 2024News updates for 'Further Afield' by +/- {Plus/Minus}
+/- {Plus/Minus} share new single and video "Calling Off The Rescue"
+/- {Plus/Minus} is excited to release "Calling Off The Rescue" the final pre-release single to be released from their highly anticipated new album Further Afield out May 31 on Ernest Jenning Record Co. (pre-order). The video for "Calling Off The Rescue," debuted this week at The Big Takeover. Shot by the band with their mounted phones while rehearsing, the video is a simple black and white verité document that captures the live performance energy for which the band is known. As the song nears its end and the intensity increases, the camera quickly cuts between Chris Deaner's bombastic drum solo, Patrick Ramos' and James Baluyut's dueling guitars, and the soaring harmonies of the song's climatic finale all leading to a massive crescendo. It is an intimate and exhilarating journey.
“Calling Off the Rescue,” is out now on all streaming platforms, and according to the band’s Patrick Ramos it is a song about, “Neglect. It’s about trying to save something that seems like a lost cause. I had been thinking about the Malaysian Airlines flight that vanished and other search and rescue operations and the horrifying idea of still being lost when a search is called off. It terrified and fascinated me. I liked the metaphor of it to describe the state of a neglected relationship.”
The song, despite its subject matter, is a surprisingly upbeat and uplifting affair that almost didn’t happen. “I had an intro and chorus but no verse. This was back in 2016, I brought the song to the studio with James and Chris and we tried a few different arrangements, different drum beats, and chord progressions but none of them felt right to sing over. Chalked it up as one of those songs that wouldn’t be forced and had to reveal itself to us, so we left it on the shelf. A few years later, we were rehearsing, jamming really, and stumbled upon a chord progression with its matching minor feeling key, reminiscent of The Smiths, slotted in well with the original intro and chorus and we leaned into the influence. It was the missing puzzle piece.”
That missing puzzle piece became the song’s verses which drive “Calling Off the Rescue,” alternating with the gentle and plaintive chorus featuring Ramos singing along to chopped-up samples of his daughter’s high school treble chorus, “I had posted a video of a beautiful performance of theirs and James suggested that we sample it for this song. After all the pitch-shifting, they sound unrecognizable from the original, but I like the idea of my daughter and I singing together on a recording.”
New York indie-rockers +/- {Plus/Minus} is excited to announce their new album "Further Afield" out May 31 on Ernest Jenning Record Co. (pre-order). Further Afield is the band's first LP in a decade and showcases a more propulsive approach while still leaning into the epic hooks the band is known for. Self-recorded in the band’s Brooklyn studio and a friend's house in Saratoga Springs, "Further Afield" incorporates many unconventional elements: AI strings from Sounds.Studio (an AI music platform co-founded by Chris), the ethereal harmonies of a high school choir, the endearing voice of Chris' grandfather, and an eclectic mix of newly learned instruments including the singing saw, pedal steel guitar, Omnichord, clarinet and vibraphone. The album's artwork was created by longtime collaborator Mark Robinson (Teenbeat, Unrest, Air Miami, Flin Flon) who has designed all +/- {Plus/Minus} releases. The arresting cover combines Mark’s signature minimalist graphic aesthetic with a collage of bold photographs. The band has also shared the album's first two singles "Borrowed Time" and "Gondolier" with accompanying music videos which can be streamed below.
On "Borrowed Time", the band's Patrick Ramos says, "'Borrowed Time' an uplifting song about how resentment builds throughout the life of a relationship (the usual light +/- {Plus/Minus} subject matter), began as an exercise using a feature on the Moog Matriarch synthesizer that randomizes octaves so you don’t know where any single note will land. James recorded the first sound it generated and built the structure of the song around it. Chris, after recording his drum part, decided to double it in an attempt to mimic his first performance. With only slight variations in his play, each take is hard-panned to the left and right resulting in the effect of an expanded and dizzying stereo picture. An 808 was used in lieu of bass guitar and I added a frenetic electric guitar before James recorded vocals. The video, conceived at 3:00 am on the beach on Chris’ birthday, was shot with a smartphone in almost complete darkness using Astrophotography mode. Each 4-minute take results in one second of footage which were then looped and edited together. Throughout the process, we learned that the act of keeping our heads as still as possible for four silent minutes in the dark while very slowly and deliberately moving our limbs is more unnerving than meditative. Interestingly, the red light you see in the background of one take is Chris shining a flashlight through the fleshy part of his hand between the thumb and forefinger. It’s bloody good fun."
Describing "Gondolier," the band says, "It’s a ‘dance’ song with a four-on-the-floor beat that takes an epic journey from the band’s electric guitar indie rock home to an intergalactic spacey ambient pop planet and back to an almost future-past folk campsite." Clocking in at nearly 7 minutes, "Gondolier" delves into themes of fatherhood, as singer/guitarist James Baluyut explains, "I bought this little keyboard and showed my son how to use it one day. The initial passage you hear in the song is something he came up with. It seemed like a weird little story: I gave something to my son, he gave something back to me, I expanded that."
Despite its conceptual depth, "Gondolier" remains a delightful romp and a highlight of the +/- {Plus/Minus} catalog. Guitarist Patrick Ramos contributes a melodic bassline and frenetic rock guitar, while drummer Chris Deaner keeps the proceedings dancy and playful with a series of tasteful drum beats. The track is embellished with flourishes of analog synthesizers, omnichord, acoustic guitar, vibraphone, melodica, clarinet, and singing saw, creating a sonic tapestry not to be missed.
Among the ten tracks on the forthcoming LP, standouts include the first single, Borrowed Time, a sparse synth-driven frenetic pop song; Calling Off the Rescue, a plaintive yet raucous slice of jangling guitar and massive builds; and Gondolier, a seven-minute 4-on-the-floor exploration traversing multiple musical styles. Experimentation, catchy melodies, and dark lyrical themes persist but are re-energized by the new rhythmic approach.
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