Foreign Born 'On the Wing Now' album

After spending the post-collegiate summer of 2003 getting drunk at other people’s weddings, Lewis Pesacov and Matt Popieluch decided it was high time to start yet another band. The two met while attending San Francisco State University and had been playing together for a handful of years in various incarnations.

After playing a few shows, Lewis and Matt went down to LA to clean up their rough demos with Lewis’ longtime friend Ariel Rechtshaid, who suggested they re-record the demos with himself on bass and Garrett Ray on drums. The results were promising enough for Lewis and Matt to quit their menial jobs and move down to LA that spring where the current line-up of Foreign Born was, yes, born.

The band released their “In the Remote Woods” EP on Startime International in the summer of 2005, followed by the limited edition “Loud Times in the Valley” EP on local LA label Grand Gallop, and is planning to release their first proper full-length, “On the Wing Now” on August 21st on Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak Records.

Foreign Born produced and recorded “On The Wing Now” themselves before signing with Dim Mak, trading on the experience and accumulated recording gear of bassist Ariel Rechtshaid, who has produced albums for We Are Scientists and The Blood Arm, among others, as well as the arrangement skills of guitarist Lewis Pesacov, who has a degree in Composition. The band pressed the original version of the finished album themselves with hand-screened covers on recycled materials and hit the road for the fall of 2006.

Touring in support of their just-finished album, Foreign Born found themselves on the road at home and abroad with We Are Scientists, Giant Drag, Rogue Wave and the Cold War Kids. For both of their tours in the fall of 2006, they navigated the US and Canada in a borrowed van powered by vegetable oil, finding their fuel behind the nation’s finer roadside dining establishments. At home they’ve shared bills with The Futureheads, The Walkmen, and Grizzly Bear, whose guitarist Ed Droste called Foreign Born his “favorite new band” in a recent Pitchfork feature.

Their sound is a dark, acoustic, psychedelic mixture of influences that range from Roy Orbison and John Lennon to the Fall, Primal Scream, Jesus & Mary Chain and Brian Eno; the varying tastes and backgrounds of the individual members informing their arrangements. Guitarist Pesacov’s formal education keeps the compositions tight and strongly constructed, while singer Matt Popieluch tends to do quite the opposite, with winning results. Although it is usually Matt and Lewis who come up with the songs’ foundations, bassist Ariel Rechtshaid and drummer Garrett Ray play an equally important role in shaping the songs’ structure and arrangement.

Having just signed with Dim Mak, Foreign Born is excited to release “On the Wing Now” and is already looking forward to their next album, having amassed enough material to fill another disc. During the touring and recording lulls, the band busies itself with multiple side projects, including Lewis’ African-themed Fool’s Gold, and Matt’s Big Search, Ceramic Isles, and occasional sideman duty for Cass McCombs.

who is Foreign Born?
Lewis Pesacov: Guitars
Matt W. Popieluch: Singing, Acoustic Guitars
Garrett Ray: Drums
Ariel Rechtshaid: Bass

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Foreign Born - On the Wing Now