The Lovely Sparrows
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The Lovely Sparrows is an Austin, Texas based indie rock band currently on
Abandoned Love Records Abandoned Love Records is an independent record label, founded in 2004 in San Francisco by Jon Rooney of the independent rock band Morning Spy and solo project Virgin of the Birds. The label moved to Austin, TX in 2005 and then to Seattle, WA in A ...
and founded by Shawn Jones. Their sound is categorized as indie rock, folk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, or just
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
, blending lush, complex arrangements with sing-along choruses that bring to mind folk-inflected pop and well-written novellas. ''Pulling Up Floors, Pouring on (New) Paint'', released in 2006, captures the gorgeous melodies and warm, organic maladies of front man Shawn Jones. The September 2008 release saw the band embark on its most extensive touring to date, which included
CMJ Music Marathon CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...
, Pop Montreal and
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
Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
, Texas. The Lovely Sparrows premiered the music video directed and animated by Eric Power of Clear Productions for ''"Year of the Dog"'' off ''Bury the Cynic'' during the 2009
SXSW Music Festival 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 conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...
in Austin, Texas. The video was honored as one of the 25 best music videos of the year 2008 by MusicForants.com. ''Bury the Cynics'' was on the best of list by Fensepost (#2 album in 2008), The Bomb Shelter (#11), the Austinist (#5), Side One: Track One v1 (#7) and Side One: Track One v2 (#1). The Lovely Sparrows band's "new record is now officially in progress" and targeting the record's release in 2010.


History

Formed in 2005 by singer-songwriter Shawn Jones, The Lovely Sparrows is the culmination of over a decade of slugging it out in the southwestern indie rock circuit. The earliest incarnation of the band, which can be heard on 2005's self-released ''Take Your Hats Off You Godless Bastards 7″'', reveled in Pavement and Bob Pollard-style laconic fuzz pop. Their early bash and pop revelry, however, was to be short-lived after a romantic split between Jones and bandmate Meaghan Perry stripped away the band's fuzzy, upbeat pop leanings. Jones rebuilt the band, embarked on a brief, danger-prone West Coast solo tour, dealt with numerous house floods, and recorded the band's debut EP in the wake of that breakup. Friends as well as former, current and occasional members of the band contributed their talents to flesh out Pulling up Floors, Pouring on (New) Paint, which was released to small-scale acclaim on upstart label
Abandoned Love Records Abandoned Love Records is an independent record label, founded in 2004 in San Francisco by Jon Rooney of the independent rock band Morning Spy and solo project Virgin of the Birds. The label moved to Austin, TX in 2005 and then to Seattle, WA in A ...
. The EP received positive reviews from the likes of Pitchfork, Spin, Paste, and Harp, as well as a host of bloggers and radio stations such as KUT, KVRX, KEXP, and KSZU. The band showcased at
SXSW Music Festival 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 conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...
then embarked on a few short tours of the East Coast and Midwest, recording a Daytrotter session and picking up discerning fans along the way.


Discography

* 2011 ''Tall Cedars of Lebanon'' (
Abandoned Love Records Abandoned Love Records is an independent record label, founded in 2004 in San Francisco by Jon Rooney of the independent rock band Morning Spy and solo project Virgin of the Birds. The label moved to Austin, TX in 2005 and then to Seattle, WA in A ...
) * 2008 ''Bury the Cynics'' (
Abandoned Love Records Abandoned Love Records is an independent record label, founded in 2004 in San Francisco by Jon Rooney of the independent rock band Morning Spy and solo project Virgin of the Birds. The label moved to Austin, TX in 2005 and then to Seattle, WA in A ...
) * 2006 ''Pulling Up Floors, Pouring on (New) Paint'' (
Abandoned Love Records Abandoned Love Records is an independent record label, founded in 2004 in San Francisco by Jon Rooney of the independent rock band Morning Spy and solo project Virgin of the Birds. The label moved to Austin, TX in 2005 and then to Seattle, WA in A ...
) * 2006 ''Take Your Hats Off You Godless Bastards 7″'' (Self-Released available through
Abandoned Love Records Abandoned Love Records is an independent record label, founded in 2004 in San Francisco by Jon Rooney of the independent rock band Morning Spy and solo project Virgin of the Birds. The label moved to Austin, TX in 2005 and then to Seattle, WA in A ...
)


References


External links


The Lovely Sparrows official websiteThe Lovely Sparrows official MyspaceThe Lovely Sparrows - Year of the Dog YouTube Music Video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovely Sparrows Indie rock musical groups from Texas Musical groups from Austin, Texas Musical groups established in 2005 2005 establishments in Texas