Aberdeen City 'The Freezing Atlantic' album

Aberdeen City is the odd couple, squared. This Boston-based atmospheric rock quartet shouldn't work, but somehow it couldn't work any other way. Take a sensitive singer/bassist who favors classical music, and who built a sensory deprivation tank in his parents' attic at an age when most youngsters were sweating over their pinewood derby entries. Add a classic rock-fueled drummer with a flair for the dramatic and comic timing as deft as his backbeat. Bookend them with a feedback-obsessed guitarist with an eerie aptitude for physics and creating sonic revelations in the studio, and the errant son of a snack food seasoning empire, whose guitar playing has an elegant intelligence as refined as his nature. Together, these varied characters create a singular personality: Aberdeen City.

Like any thriving metropolis, Aberdeen City is a safe haven for street preachers, park bench philosophers, and unrepentant romantics who are drawn together by the potent pulse of happy accidents, risks taken, principles honored and life lived at its most concentrated. The quartet formed in Boston in 2001, after the paths of its founding members crossed and re-crossed. Singer/bassist Brad Parker, drummer Rob McCaffrey and guitarist Ryan Heller first met in the Chicago neighborhood where they all grew up, and then again, at the Boston area college all three separately chose to attend. Back in Chicago, McCaffrey and Heller had survived their first blush-inducing high school bands together, and known Parker from around town. The quixotic chance of finding themselves reunited at the same east coast college was reinforced by their isolation amid a sea of preppy overachievers. And they knew a kindred spirit immediately, when they met a slightly younger guitarist and local DJ, Chris McLaughlin. Aberdeen City was founded. When the band's elder members graduated later that year, they knew the group must remain where McLaughlin was and cemented Boston as their home base. Over the next five years, they refined their sound and started growing their reputation, playing frequent shows in New York City and opening for Stellastarr*, British Sea Power, The National, Elefant, The Go! Team, and We Are Scientists. Their increasing momentum was embodied during a sold out show at CMJ 2005, as eager fans watched the band perform from the sidewalk outside the club.

Aberdeen City's debut album, "The Freezing Atlantic," represents a marriage between the band's disparate parts. Heartfelt vocals are carried on a breadth of guitar sounds, ranging from high and chiming to raw and distorted, while the bass leads the melody over a decisive drum beat. In songs like first single, "God Is Going to Get Sick of Me," the lyrics slyly transmit multiple meanings, as serious messages about life and love in modern times are laced with double entendres and dark wit. A knife blade of humor also glances through "Pretty Pet," with its lyrics: "I've seen shame on many faces./I've seen it on mine./I've been helped by many people./I've hurt more than you./Sometimes regret makes a great pet./You hit the target, my pet, regret."

Both "God Is Going to Get Sick of Me" and "Another Seven Years" were produced by this year's Grammy-winning Producer of the Year Steve Lillywhite (U2, Morrissey, Talking Heads, Dave Matthews Band, Jason Mraz, Siouxsie & the Banshees). The other tracks on "The Freezing Atlantic" were recorded with producer Nic Hard (Jesse Malin, The Church, The Bravery), the band's debut is a culmination of their history and hard work. To make the album, its members holed up during deep midwinter at The Ranch, a former country western hangout turned recording studio that's still haunted by the echoes of George Clinton's frequent recording sessions. For two-and-a-half weeks, they obsessed over every lyric, every chord, and every sonic nuance. Finally, their contrary, yet somehow complimentary, personalities and tastes formed a unique whole. It is the very diversity of the band's members and their individual influences that gives Aberdeen City its kinetic sound and vision and propels them forward as they release their debut album and make plans to remain on tour forever.

Aberdeen City is: Ryan Heller – guitar, Chris McLaughlin – guitar/vocals, Rob McCaffrey – drums, Brad Parker – vocals/bass

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Aberdeen City - The Freezing Atlantic