I’m currently reading Bonk by Mary Roach. It’s the history of modern sex research, by the author of the wonderful bestseller about death, Stiff. The main thing I’m getting from her new book is that you get a lot of crap for trying to study human sexuality. (Don’t take that literally.) Most people suspect you’re a pervert, at best.

Lucy Bland is a sexologist, and she has written and edited some fascinating works dealing with the historical documentation of 19th century sex researchers. These were doctors who first studied forms of sexuality considered aberrant and unusual for the time, but accepted as commonplace now.

Lucy Bland is also a band, fronted by Cat Biell, who sings and plays acoustic guitar, though a big part of the band’s sound is Todd Wallar’s “electronica.” The marriage of Biell’s mellifluous voice with the playful atmosphere of Wallar’s programming creates a beautiful soundtrack to Lucy Bland’s themes of sensuality in relationships, whether it be swimming lightly through social waves or complete submersion into the lives of others.

Though the most obvious strengths are Biell’s alternately opaque and revealing lyrics, sung in a relaxed, pleasuring style, and the synthetic flow from Wallar’s sonic oscillations and occasional electric guitar, this album also features some deliciously restrained strings from Kate Mosehauer (violin) and Anil Seth (cello), as well as accordion and keyboards and trombone from Tim Stedman. Also along are Katherine Wasberg on bassoon and Andrea Smarmdom on clarinet. Each instrument everyone plays sounds effortlessly appealing within the sound of the songs, but that doesn’t mean it is ever boring.

As I blogged originally about this album, this is shiny stuff, and usually music considered in the amorphous genre “lo-fi” is rarely this universally fetching. If like me you wished that Magnetic Fields songs were much more cleanly and better produced, or that some of your favorite basement-techno bands didn’t try so hard to sing with that certain carelessness, then Lucy Bland will be very attractive to you. It’s the little kisses that seem so sweet: Seth’s delicate cello on “Fly Away,” the pendant way the stories unravel, the image of “Blueprint” where the narrator “floats around you like pollen.” This is a progressive link between the folk-pop minimalism of Suzanne Vega and the poetic archness of Björk, with a sound wholly Lucy Bland’s own.

“Valor” may seem a little out of place texturally, but it would be my first pick for a single, and yet it’s the depths of the album that you want to plummet into, where Biell sings you down like a reassuring siren, if that makes any mythical sense at all.

-Chris Estey, June 12, 2008 http://www.threeimaginarygirls.com/recordreview/2008may/downtosealevel

“Seattle’s Lucy Bland soaks up its city’s atmosphere of sea and sky on Down to Sea Level. Cat Biell (vocals, acoustic guitar), Katie Mosehauer (violin, cello), Tim Stedman (keyboards) and Todd Wallar (electronics, guitars) paint the Puget Sound in a watercolor wash of somber strings and rainy refrains. “Blueprints” is the gorgeous centerpiece of this charming album. It’s a cozy afternoon curled up with a cup of tea in a favorite chair by the window, watching the drops cascading down the pane, waiting for the rain to stop. Despite its sometimes cloudy outlook, Down to Sea Level is less a winter storm than a springtime sprinkling; it’s an invigorating, thirst-quenching cloudburst of liquid sunshine." - rod modell http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/shorttakes/

“Down to Seal Level, the new release from Seattle’s Lucy Bland, doesn’t sound like the work of a band releasing its first full-length album. Precisely mixing traditionally rock instrumentation with gorgeous violin lines, typewriter clicks and electronic tones and sounds, the band lands somewhere between pop and indie rock — while dragging one foot in folk and a singer-songwritery aesthetic with their delicate, intimate songs. You might place them gently between the late-night fables of Azure Ray and the burbling ballads of the Postal Service, though Lucy Bland’s glitches and sparks are used more in the service of creating an atmosphere than of driving a melody that begs you to sing along. Cat Biell’s airy, controlled voice suits both the dreamy (”Venice") and the forthright (“The Bridge”). On “Valor,” the guitars come to the forefront in a rather Britpoppy sort of way; as the music gets more familiar, Biell stretches out her words, the slow vocal melody providing an unexpected lethargy to the song’s first section. Criss-crossing tones and tempos, sweet strings and subtle beats, Lucy Bland creates smart, thoughtful songs that suggest a reflective mood, a coffee-steamed pane of glass streaked with raindrops, a polished wood floor. This is music that can stick in your head, affecting your perspective, without necessarily being catchy. Lucy Bland and The Fast Computers (a perfect pairing if ever there were one) play at 9 pm Wednesday, April 2, at Sam Bond’s Garage. 21+ show. $3-$5. — Molly Templeton"

Sweet write up! Thanks Bliss!

“If you pureed the music of “Felt Mountain”-era Goldfrapp and Zero 7 with a hiccupping synthesizer and a plunking toy piano in some kind of fantastical blender, what you’d get might sound like Seattle indie-rock ensemble Lucy Bland. (Who bear nothing more in common with the British sexology academic than the same name.)

More playful and lo-fi than the above comparisons might suggest, Lucy Bland the band is fronted by guitarist and songwriter Cat Biell. Lyrically, her concerns on the band’s newly released CD “Down to Sea Level” are standard-issue: romance, self-questioning and -determination. What makes Lucy Bland’s music refreshing to jaded ears is the textural contrast of electronic beats and effects with swoony violin and cello, the unapologetic sweetness of pledges like “May Say” and the nostalgic “Rewrite,” and the philosophical poetry best expressed in “Blueprints”: “I am drawing the blueprints for next year/ I’ll be sure to design more time for my thoughts to clear/ And sometimes you have to know when you are strong/ And sometimes you have to know when you are not/ I’m climbing the tower of my disregards/ I’ll come down when I figure it all out…”

Images of water and nature figure heavily in Biell’s songs, whether she’s singing about “the winding shore” on lead-off track “Sea Level,” or contemplating “Crashing Waves” or the changing nature of love and geography on “Venice” and “The Bridge.” Even the mysterious instrumental “Plumb” is ornamented with blips evocative of dripping faucets or steady sheets of rain dancing on a roof. Biell’s gentle musings are given musical flesh by organist Tim Stedman, violinist/cellist Katie Mosehauer, programmer/guitarist Todd Waller and drummer Chris Icasiano. Their winsome, electronically accented pop has sometimes been pushed under the “folktronic” umbrella, but that term is ultimately reductive when considered alongside the hopeful buoyancy of several of their tunes.

It isn’t much of a stretch to suggest that rain isn’t just weather for Lucy Bland, it’s virtually a spiritual condition. Their earnest confections are informed in spirit if not in fact by water: rain, rivers, oceans, tears, the ripple effect of puddles and waves, the ultimate connectedness of all living organisms. Watery guitar, reverb-drenched organ and harmonies all contribute to the overall dreamy vibe of pop that pairs well with rainy days or starry nights.

Lucy Bland play Tangier, 2138 Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz, 7:45 p.m. Sunday; they’ll be followed by My Imaginary Friends, Taylor Goldsmith and Herman Dune. $10 admission. Call (323) 666-8666) for details. www.myspace.com/lucybland, lucybland.com."

http://www.pasadenaweekly.com/cms/story/detail/?id=5845

4.2.08 – Sam Bond’s – Eugene, OR
4.3.08 – Cafe Coda – Chico, CA
4.4.08 – Retox Lounge – San Francisco, CA
4.5.08 – The Partisan – Merced, CA
4.6.08 – Tangier – Los Angeles, CA

Thanks to everyone who came out and saw us along our tour route and all the great bands we played with.

Playing at Sam Bond’s in Eugene was a blast. But we had a great time and were paid many high compliments (“Sick as Shit!”). Many thanks to the Fast Computers for their hospitality and playing a kick ass show. If you haven’t checked them out, you should. You know they’re good if they’ve been reviewed in such taste-making publications as Hustler (I buy it for the album reviews).

Chico was hoppin’ as well. Those bands played loud! But they were fine groups. I’m sure we’ll hear more from Surrogate and the four-guitar Belda Beast.

Then things got weirder…

SF was interesting (Note to band. Don’t judge a club from their slick website alone). This would be one of two times Tim would jump off the stage during a show to get a sound guy’s attention, who was just a little too busy text messaging to turn up Tim’s keyboard. Enjoyed playing with Good Riddler and Astral tho.

Not knowing what to find in Merced, we stumbled into the Partisan which turned out to be a really great bar open to tasty music. And we were pretty happy to be opening for Light FM, who pretty much stole the show with their awesome live set.

Tangier in LA was pretty sweet. Great to hook up with old friends and family. Again, we felt lucky to play with such talented artists like My Imaginary Friends. Look us up when you hit Seattle.