Kingsbury has shared the stage with Holopaw, Stellastar*, Woven, The Honorary Title, Matt Pond PA, French Kicks, The Reputation, The Billy Nayer Show, and Chuck Prophet to name a few. They have played throughout the east coast, and self-released two highly praised EP's, "This Place is Coming Down" and "The Open Sea." The band's debut full-length album, "The Great Compromise" was released 2007 on Post Records to critical acclaim. The band released their follow-up EP, "Lie To Me" digitally on their website late 2008.
The Website
In November, we released a new version of our website, www.kingsburymusic.net. On this new version, we have released our new EP "Lie To Me" for free. You will also be able to download everything we have ever recorded for free. We will have live recordings, random tracks that never got released, studio footage, all the album artwork, all the lyrics, and maybe even a few cover songs if we don't get sued for playing them.
Kingsburymusic.net is going to be the portal to everything we do from here on. Every time we record a new song, we will post it. All the pictures we take, the videos we make, the ideas we have, everything will be on the site. And we will post it as quickly as we can make it. Think of it as an online music blog, but the only content will be content we create.
The site is going to have a donations link, so that if you feel so inclined, you can help us with making our wonderful content. All of the donation money will be reinvested into our recording studio, gas for our van, and other infrastructure we may need to make more abundant and higher quality audio and video.
All of our records and related merchandise will still be on sale for all of you on Post-Records.com. Hardcopy releases will still be released on Post-Records, and if we get enough money from donations, we are going to press vinyl copies of "Lie To Me" and "The Great Compromise".
We strongly feel that the way people consume music and media is radically changing, and as technology changes, the relevance of the album will continue to come into question. Rather than try to fight a changing media climate, we would rather spend our time setting up a system that we can be as creative and constant as possible.
We are going to change the way we do things as a band, because our culture and technology is changing. We are excited about the change, and we hope you are too.
Lie To Me
From May 2007 to July 2008, Kingsbury tried numerous different writing and recording strategies in their home studio, Sugarwood, in Winter Park, FL. The band (Mark Freeman, TJ Burke, Samantha Christine, and Bruce Reed) was still involved in promoting their critically acclaimed debut full-length "The Great Compromise" and touring across the country, but used what little time they had to write, record, and craft music in ways outside of what they were used to. The result is "Lie To Me", the follow-up EP to "The Great Compromise" and the first of a series of recordings released for free on the bands recently rebuilt website, kingsburymusic.net.
"Lie To Me" exploits the more atmospheric elements of what Kingsbury does. With six songs, it still clocks in around thirty minutes. The songs share a strong emphasis on subtlety and dynamics, but remain incredibly gripping. The record is rich with layered compositions and Reed's voice sounds more comfortable than ever. Instrumental tracks like "Ocarina Mountaintop" and "Armada" were born out of sonic manipulations and stream of conscious recording, while songs like "Holy War" and the title track, "Lie To Me", were crafted in the studio completely live. As a whole, "Lie To Me" delivers on Kingsbury's strength; music that is uncomfortably gorgeous and beautifully unnerving.
The EP will be released for free on the band's recently rebuilt website, kingsburymusic.net, this November and will have an official release early next year on Post-Records.
The Great Compromise
On their debut full-length record "The Great Compromise", Kingsbury have found the perfect balance between sonic adventurism and immediate song writing. Much like intelligent rock forefathers Radiohead and Wilco, Kingsbury have created much more than a great compilation of songs. They have created an incredible record that yearns to be listened to from start to finish, and has a timeless quality that makes for a mesmerizing album.
Kingsbury lost two of its original members before they began to record "The Great Compromise". But where other bands may have stumbled over the rapid line-up changes and restructuring, Kingsbury's focus had never been better. The band stopped playing out, and the remaining three members, Bruce Reed, Mark Freeman, and T.J. Burke, dove head first into recording at their home studio. Bruce said, "We started recording with the mentality that none of our ideas were off-limits, but no one's musical contribution was going on the record if it didn't add something special to the song." The results are a collection of dark, discordant, hypnotic rock songs, stripped of all of their unnecessary elements.
The album was mastered by T.J. Lipple (Q and not U, Aloha) at Silver Sonya in Washington D.C. and released on Post Records.
Kingsbury's goal was to write one of the most artistically meaningful records to ever come out of Florida. After nearly a year of recording, they may have succeeded.