Unwed Sailor is an American, mostly
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...
band, formed in 1998 by Johnathon Ford, with recordings that range from instrumental rock to ambient drones. The band's touring and recording lineups have largely been in rotation over the years, with the core member being
bassist Ford. Unwed Sailor has consistently toured throughout the United States and Europe since its inception in 1998.
History
Ford was initially a band member of
Roadside Monument
Roadside Monument was an American math rock band from Seattle, Washington, who were active from 1994–1998 and then again from 2002–2003.
History
Before Roadside Monument began, singer Doug Lorig was involved in other bands. During junior hi ...
and
Pedro the Lion
Pedro the Lion is an American indie rock band from Seattle, Washington, United States. David Bazan formed the band in 1995 and represented its main creative force, backed by a varying rotation of collaborating musicians. In 2006 Pedro the Lion wa ...
, prior to the formation of Unwed Sailor, which he founded in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, U.S. In a band biography on their
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming s ...
profile, the origin of the band is explained: "Pulling towards a bass guitar-oriented sound, the songs he had begun to craft did not fully feel right for Roadside Monument, thus the unbeknownst predestined forming of Unwed Sailor."
The band's first release was the ''Firecracker''
EP, recorded in Seattle after Ford left Pedro the Lion—performing on their debut album—and before he relocated to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, U.S. Ford invited friends
David Bazan
David Bazan (; born January 22, 1976) is an American indie rock singer-songwriter from Phoenix, Arizona who now resides in Seattle, Washington. Bazan is the lead singer and creative force behind the band Pedro the Lion and was the lead singer ...
(Pedro the Lion), K.C. Wescott (The Vogue) and Melissa Palladino (Danielson Famile) to assist with the recording of the inaugural Unwed Sailor EP. Recorded by Blake Wescott in September 1998 at Casa Recording Co., ''Firecracker'' was released on the Made In Mexico record label, and then on Burnt Toast Vinyl.
Mike DaRonco of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
praised the EP for being "Beautifully crafted pop that doesn't utter a single word" and concluded that "Unlike fellow instrumental indie outlet
Tristeza, Unwed Sailor can be appreciated as something other than
background music
Background music (British English: piped music) is a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behav ...
.
Ford then worked with Nic Tse, Dan Burton (Early Day Miners), Joe Brumley (Early Day Miners) and Matthew Johnson (Roadside Monument) to record Unwed Sailor's debut full-length studio album, ''The Faithful Anchor''.
The album was recorded and mixed in
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mo ...
, U.S. during October and December 2000, and was released in the U.S. on September 10, 2001 on the Lovesick Recordings label.
''The Faithful Anchor'' featured eight instrumental pieces and one song with vocals by bassist Johnathon Ford: "The Quiet Hour".
Unwed Sailor released a joint project with Early Day Miners and photographer Chris Bennett in March 2002. Entitled ''Stateless'', the recording is a score by the two bands to accompany Bennett's
Super 8 footage, filmed on trips across the U.S. and Europe.
The Unwed Sailor ''The Marionette and the Music Box'' concept album was then released on Burnt Toast Vinyl in August 2003 as a companion piece to the Jamie Hunt illustrated children's book of the same name. Ford explained in 2010 that the album was their most experimental recording at the time:
We literally created our own sounds and instruments for that record. It was very much like creating a movie soundtrack—just being in a room with a couple of random objects and using them to create the sound another object would make. Like spinning quarters on a table to get the sound a clock would make if it was being wound, or rolling an old toy car across a picnic table to simulate the sound of an old windmill. I am fascinated with that kind of thing.
Writing for ''Pitchfork'', Bill Morris concluded his review of the album with the statement: "Ultimately, I see the album as a moving away from one strength in favor of developing another."
Touring
Since inception, the band has toured with musical acts such as Pedro the Lion,
Low,
Sufjan Stevens, Minus the Bear,
Battles
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
,
The Appleseed Cast
The Appleseed Cast is an American rock band from Lawrence, Kansas. The band was founded in the early days of emo by singer-guitarist Christopher Crisci and drummer Louie Ruiz. The Appleseed Cast has steadily evolved over the release of eight ...
and
Beach House
Beach House is an American musical duo formed in Baltimore, Maryland in 2004. The band consists of Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals).
Their self-titled debut album was released in 2006 t ...
.
Collaborators
The following artists have played with Unwed Sailor:
*
David Bazan
David Bazan (; born January 22, 1976) is an American indie rock singer-songwriter from Phoenix, Arizona who now resides in Seattle, Washington. Bazan is the lead singer and creative force behind the band Pedro the Lion and was the lead singer ...
(Pedro the Lion)
* K.C. Wescott (The Vogue)
* Melissa Palladino (Danielson Famile)
* Nic Tse played guitar on ''The Faithful Anchor'',
and "The Marionette & The Music Box"
* Dan Burton (Early Day Miners) recorded and mixed ''The Faithful Anchor''.
*
Matt Johnson performed on ''The Faithful Anchor''.
*
Matthew Putman performed on ''The Marionette & The Music Box''
''Little Wars'',
''Heavy Age
'', and ''Look Alive
''
* Brooks Tipton performed on ''Little Wars''
and was the touring keyboardist from 2003-2009
Nicholas Tse Jo-Yum (born September 18, 1977, not to be confused with singer and actor
Nicholas Tse) is an indie rock guitarist and songwriter from Hong Kong, and was a key player in Unwed Sailor between 1999 and 2003.
Side projects
In 2001 Ford collaborated on the Circle of Birds project with Ester Drang and members of Oklahoma country band Lasso.
Personal life
Ford was born in the U.S. state of
Oklahoma and in 2014 is a resident of the state's second-largest city
Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
.
Discography
Albums
* ''The Faithful Anchor'' (
Burnt Toast Vinyl
Burnt Toast Vinyl is an independent record label based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
History
Burnt Toast Vinyl was founded by Scott Hatch, a Drexel University student who had initially been involved with concert promotion at the school. The la ...
, 2001)
*:Track listing:
# "Last Goodbyes" – 3:36
# "The House of Hopes...Dreams...and Wishes" – 3:36
# "The Faithful Anchor" – 3:29
# "Our Nights" – 6:17
# "Golden Cities" – 4:23
# "Ruby's Wishes" – 3:19
# "In the Presence of Thrones" – 2:35
# "Riddle of Stars" – 3:05
# "The Quiet Hour" – 6:17
* ''
Stateless'', with
Early Day Miners
Early Day Miners are a band from southern Indiana, United States who released records on the Bloomington, Indiana based label Secretly Canadian. The band has released seven full-length records.
Their first CD '' Placer Found'' was released Apr ...
(The Great Vitamin Mystery, 2002)
*:Track listing:
# "The Ninth Ward" – 8:00
# "Scandinavian Comfort" – 7:36
# "Treeline" – 4:17
# "Mosaic" – 2:55
# "Chandelier" – 7:52
* ''
The Marionette and the Music Box'' (2003)
*:Track listing:
# "Morning in the Forest" – 0:51
# "The Marionette's Cottage" – 1:09
# "Cuckoo Clocks. The Call of the Windmill" – 2:39
# "The Windmill's Tale of the Music Box Floats Through the Air. Riding the Windmill" – 5:32
# "The Music Box" – 1:22
# "In Search of the Music Box" – 1:37
# "The Meeting of the Marionette and the Music Box" – 0:55
# "The Floating Waltz" – 1:14
# "At Peace in the Forest" – 1:12
# "Asleep in the Forest" - 2:28
# "Behold the Unicorn!" – 0:26
# "The Distraction. A Conflict of Interest. Enchanted by the Unicorn" – 3:37
# "The Separation. A Hopeless Pursuit" – 2:27
# "Lost and Alone" – 5:37
# "The Return to Open Arms" – 0:52
# "The Embrace" – 1:10
# "Jubilee" – 4:38
* ''The White Ox'' (
Burnt Toast Vinyl
Burnt Toast Vinyl is an independent record label based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
History
Burnt Toast Vinyl was founded by Scott Hatch, a Drexel University student who had initially been involved with concert promotion at the school. The la ...
, 2006)
*:Track listing:
#"Shadows"
#"Gila"
#"Numbers"
#"Night Diamond"
#"Pelican"
#"The End"
*''
Little Wars
''Little Wars'' is a set of rules for playing with toy soldiers, written by English novelist H. G. Wells in 1913. The book, which had a full title of ''Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for t ...
'' (
Burnt Toast Vinyl
Burnt Toast Vinyl is an independent record label based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
History
Burnt Toast Vinyl was founded by Scott Hatch, a Drexel University student who had initially been involved with concert promotion at the school. The la ...
, 2008)
*:Track listing:
#"Copper Islands"
#"Little Wars"
#"The Garden"
#"Aurora"
#"Campanile"
#"Echo Roads"
#"Nauvoo"
#"Lonely Bulls"
#"Numeral"
*''Heavy Age'' (2019)
*:Track listing:
#"Indian Paintbrush"
#"Moon Coin"
#"ACAXAO"
#"Heavy Age"
#"Jealous Heart"
#"Disintegrate"
#"Nova"
#"Ovid"
#"Thunderbird"
#"Indian Ocean"
#"When You Want Me There"
*''Look Alive'' (2020)
*:Track listing:
#"Glaring"
#"Look Alive"
#"Camino Reel"
#"Gone Jungle (GJ Mix)"
#"Retrograde"
#"Spring Theory"
#"Haze"
*''Truth or Consequences'' (2020)
*:Track listing:
#"Blitz"
#"Palladora"
#"Lilith"
#"Ajo"
#"Voodoo Roux"
#"Truth or Consequences"
#"Fellsway"
#"Dark of the Morning"
EPs
* ''Firecracker EP'' (
Burnt Toast Vinyl
Burnt Toast Vinyl is an independent record label based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
History
Burnt Toast Vinyl was founded by Scott Hatch, a Drexel University student who had initially been involved with concert promotion at the school. The la ...
, 1999)
*: Track listing:
# "Firecracker" – 2:36
# "Ruby's Wishes" – 3:03
# "Snowcaps" – 3:12
# "Once in a Blue Moon" – 4:12
* ''Circle of Birds'' EP, with
Lasso
A lasso ( or ), also called lariat, riata, or reata (all from Castilian, la reata 're-tied rope'), is a loop of rope designed as a restraint to be thrown around a target and tightened when pulled. It is a well-known tool of the Spanish an ...
and
Ester Drang (
Burnt Toast Vinyl
Burnt Toast Vinyl is an independent record label based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
History
Burnt Toast Vinyl was founded by Scott Hatch, a Drexel University student who had initially been involved with concert promotion at the school. The la ...
, 2001)
*:Track listing:
# "Old Ironside" - 3:24
# "Circle of Birds" - 7:01
# "Good Fortune at Harbor Freight" - 7:09
* ''Circles'' (
Burnt Toast Vinyl
Burnt Toast Vinyl is an independent record label based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
History
Burnt Toast Vinyl was founded by Scott Hatch, a Drexel University student who had initially been involved with concert promotion at the school. The la ...
, 2006)
*:Track listing:
#"Circles 1: Mist" – 11:09
#"Circles 2: Mesa" – 5:16
*''Tour EP'' (self-released, 2011)
*:Track listing:
#"Once in a Blue Moon (2011)" - 3:55
#"Copper Islands (2011)" - 5:39
#"Firecracker (2011)" - 4:00
#"Oaxaca" - 4:14
#"Bohemia" - 7:24
* ''Take a Minute'' (Current Taste Music, 2017)
*:Track listing:
#"Take a Minute"
#"Internal Reality"
#"The Headlands"
#"Night Nest"
#"The Other Way"
Singles
*"The Magic Hedge" 7-inch (2002)
*"Gone Jungle" (2019)
References
External links
*
Soundcrank podcast with Unwed SailorInterview at ''Nashville Review''
{{DEFAULTSORT:White Ox, The
Unwed Sailor albums
2006 EPs
Musical groups from Washington (state)
American post-rock groups