In Really Disappointing Music News: Gowns Break Up

In Really Disappointing Music News: Gowns Break Up

After moving through the standard steps of grief upon learning the news myself, it is with great sadness I relay the message that Gowns, a phenomenal band that counts many of this site’s contributors as fans, have announced their dissolution. In a five-year career, they produced two EPs, one full-length, and several tours’ worth of heart-stopping live sets. From Gowns member Erika Anderson’s blog:

As of last week, the collaboration between artists Erika Anderson, Ezra Buchla, and Corey Fogel, also known as GOWNS, has ceased to breathe. […] We were tapping into some very raw emotions, and I’m ultimately proud of the risks we took. In spite of anything else, I feel like we were honest, and I feel like we were brave. I’m also proud of the sounds we created, as though the combination of our talents created something that was rare and unique. […] I’m sorry we couldn’t keep it together.

The band has posted their final release, a fantastic 17-minute track called “Stand And Encounter,” as a free download (you can stream it at the Chocolate Grinder). And for more information on their new projects, read the rest of Anderson’s post.

After a single listen on the suggestion of a fellow TMT writer, I implored every one of my musically-inclined friends to get Gowns’ sole LP, 2007’s Red State (TMT Review). I extend the same suggestion to you. The album is exquisitely beautiful and deeply unsettling, totally gut-wrenching, and surprisingly humanizing. Anderson once told me that, during its production, every member of the band had moments where they felt they’d gone crazy, striving to make every second achieve total perfection and clarity. After listening to the album dozens of times as a whole and to every song individually dozens of times more, I believe what they produced is unprecedented, peerless, and indeed perfect. I guess something as good as Gowns is never long for this world.

• Erika Anderson: http://cameouttanowhere.com
• Ezra Buchla: http://music.calarts.edu/~ebuchla/spat.php
• Corey Fogel: http://knitdrums.tumblr.com
• Cardboard: http://www.cardboardrecords.com

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