''Floating Action'' is a band from

Black Mountain Black Mountain may refer to: Places Australia * Black Mountain (Australian Capital Territory), a mountain in Canberra * Black Mountain, New South Wales, a village in Armidale Regional Council, New South Wales * Black Mountain, Queensland, a loca ...

, North Carolina, founded by Seth Kauffman. Kauffman is the band's sole lyricist, songwriter, recorder and producer, in addition to playing almost all the music. Kauffman has been called "the underappreciated genius of the Asheville music scene", and has been compared to Harry Nilsson. Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Kauffman's frequent collaborator, called him "the most underrated person in music". He has also been praised by the Black Keys, Zach Miller of Dr. Dog, and Jonah Hill.

History

Floating Action was formed by Kauffman after his previous musical project, the Motown sound group ''The Choosy Beggars'', broke up in 2005. The project was named after an out-of-date Gretsch kick-drum pedal. Kauffman is also a member of the reggae- and dub-influenced duo ''Lord King'', along with Evan Martin. Kauffman wrote and recorded an album with Michael Nau of Cotton Jones and Mighty Thread while quarantined under the project name ''Dream Sitch''. He has also released a solo album called ''Ting''. Floating Action performed at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

in 2009 and at the Hangout Music Festival in 2017. Kauffman is notable for his contributions to other musicians' albums. He played guitar on Lana Del Rey's ''Ultraviolence'' and Angel Olsen's ''My Woman'', bass on Jim James'

Uniform Distortion ''Uniform Distortion'' is the third studio album by American musician and lead vocalist of My Morning Jacket Jim James. It was released on June 29, 2018 under ATO Records. Production Jim James explained the inspiration for the album came from the ...

, and drums on Tyler Ramsey's ''The Valley Wind''. James and Olsen appeared on Floating Action's 2016 album, ''Hold Your Fire''. Other albums Kauffman has played on include three Ray LaMontagne releases (''

Supernova A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...

'', '' Ouroboros'', and '' Part of the Light'') and ''Good Advice'' by

Basia Bulat Barbara Josephine Bulat (born April 13, 1984), known as Basia Bulat (), is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter. She is known for performing with an autoharp. Early life and education Bulat grew up in Etobicoke, Ontario where her mother was a mu ...

. He has produced music for

Georgia Fair Georgia Fair is an Australian music duo comprising Jordan Wilson and Benjamin Riley. Their debut album, '' All Through Winter'', was released in October 2011, which peaked in the top 100 of the ARIA Albums Chart and reached No. 1 on t ...

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, Lissie, and Daniel Martin Moore. Floating Action has released 11 full-length albums. His most recent album, ''Outsider Art'', received a digital release before its expected vinyl release due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Musical style

Floating Action's music blends multiple styles, including indie rock, folk, dub, and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

. Seth Kauffman has described Floating Action's sound as "lo-fi Carolina funk." Floating Action's music has been compared to the Beatles, the Black Keys,

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Ray Davies, Dr. Dog, the Flaming Lips,

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...

, Menomena, My Morning Jacket, Okkervil River, Bill Withers, and the xx.

Full-Length Releases

* ''Research'' (2008, Park the Van, as ''Seth Kauffman'') * ''Floating Action'' (2009, Park the Van) * ''Desert Etiquette'' (2011, Park the Van) * ''Fake Blood'' (2012, Removador) * ''Body Action'' (2014, New West) * ''Hold Your Fire'' (2016,

PIAPTK PIAPTK Recordings is an American independent record label founded in Olympia, Washington in 2006 by Michael Dixon and based in Tucson, Arizona. History Michael Dixon started People in a Position to Know (PIAPTK) Recordings in 2006 while teach ...

) * ''Is It Exquisite?'' (2017,

) * ''Heartache Essentials'' (2018,

) * ''Old World Camels'' (2019,

) * ''Outsider Art'' (2020,

) * ''Jinx Protecting'' (2022,

url=https://piaptk.limitedrun.com/bands/floatingaction)

References

American blues musical groups Dub musical groups Indie rock musical groups from North Carolina {{US-band-stub