Wayward melodies, scraps of pop songs buried beneath broken radios, feedback freak-outs, York Redoubt are stitching math rock back together. Brad Lahead (The Got to Get Got, ex-Tomcat Combat), Mike Wright (Hugs, Dishonest Mailmen) and Seamus Dalton murdered their old moniker and began piecing themselves together over the summer of 2008.
After Seamus left for university, his younger brother Noah (Watermelon Eating Contest) was recruited, bringing his own off-kilter sensibility (and kit setup). York Redoubt emerged from a smoky Oxford Street basement in the winter of 2009 with a batch of unparalleled noise-pop anthems, quickly garnering a reputation as one of the best new bands in Halifax. They entered the studio with Charles Austin (The Superfriendz) and Dave Ewenson to lay down the foundation of what would become a fortress of sound. They recorded between the studio, their Oxford Street jam space and an abandoned school house in Truro, producing in the process a stunning mixture of Phil Spector-esque wall-of-sound and the lo-fi aesthetic sensibility of Phil Elvrum or Eric’s Trip. Mike Wright laboured like a dumb dog looking for a stick in a lake, tirelessly trying endless combinations until he had mixed the perfect record. Finally they sent it off to J. Lapointe (North of America, The Motes) to be mastered.
The end product, a powerful debut record with melodies that shine through the fog, spliced full of field recordings, unorthodox sounds and controlled chaos. At times recalling the dynamic shifts of the Pixies, the precision of Deerhunter and the buoyancy of the Beatles, York Redoubt create their own fragmented forward looking sound. All on delicious speckled vinyl to be released jointly between Noyes and Hot Money Records. To celebrate, York Redoubt are embarking on a cross country tour to support their record, dipping their toes into the States to cool off, and setting North America awash in their afterglow in the process.