Morning Recordings 'The Welcome Kinetic' album

Things rarely go according to plan. Originally conceived in 2003 as a solo project for Pramod Tummala (ex-Melochrome), Morning Recordings has evolved into an enigmatic rotating cast of players whose recorded output charts the songwriter’s diverse musical roaming. The debut album, Music For Places - an exercise in melancholic, hushed songwriter fare imbued with an orchestral sparseness with contributions from members of The Coctails and Lambchop - was co-released in 2005 by Better Looking Records (The Album Leaf, Tristeza, The Jealous Sound) and Pramod's own imprint, Loose Thread, to quiet but steady acclaim.

A few months after the record's release, Pramod assembled a group of friends to begin work on the second record. While the intent was to quickly document the band's live arrangements, this more structured approach soon left Pramod restless. Before long, he began musical free-association with the instruments on hand in North Branch Studio, which laid the framework for several new songs. Let's Love, an online-only EP, was released in the spring of 2007 and showcased most of the songs that came out of the earlier sessions.

The new full-length, The Welcome Kinetic, finds Pramod steering the latest incarnation of the ensemble (now including The Coctails’ Barry Phipps) away from the intimate monotones of the first record in favor of a bolder aural palette. Dub-inflected Morricone Latin, waltz-time sound collages, underwater Bachrachian pop, and warped '70s funk are all rendered with a balladeer's touch and Drag City artist Edith Frost joins the ensemble to sing on three of the tracks including the bewitching lead vocal on “Songs From a Hotel Bar.” Utilizing a talented group of musicians and eclectic instrumentation (vibraphone, Optigan, pianos, cellos, horns, tape machine, acoustic and amplified bowed metal, upright bass, Japanese table harp, & field recordings, hammered dulcimer), Morning Recordings has created a work that is sonically rich and sweepingly cinematic.

Loose Thread will release The Welcome Kinetic internationally in October 2007 and straying from the plan hasn't sounded so vibrant.

press quotes

“The ‘places’ referred to in the title are the bed, the couch wrapped in a comforter, a pillow fort and a time machine to 1975 AM-radio-pop nirvana. Tummala has a honeyed drawl that's an ethereal instrument all its own.“ - Magnet

“Like a blissed-out hallucination, it's structured but slightly out of focus, fading away so gradually that you wonder if it was ever actually there...Tummala has the patience to let his ideas ripen before serving them, and damn, they go down smoothly. (4 stars out of 5)“ - Aversion

“...another notable chapter in Chicago's post-rock scene opus.“ - Chicago Free Press

“a warm base of guitars, bass and slowly clocking drums is fleshed out with airy touches of piano, vibraphone, rhodes and strings...the result is a gentle lushness. Tummala's vocals are welcoming and soothing, a match for the Sunday evening serenity of the album's mood.“ - Punk Planet

“a record full of delicate, lilting sounds...With sparse, gentle vocals melodies that evoke the ghost of Elliott Smith on top of intricate but subdued instrumental arrangements, Tummala succeeds in creating a record that is both relaxing and compelling, sort of like Iron and Wine but with organs and harmonium instead of acoustic guitars.“ - Pop Culture Press

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Morning Recordings - The Welcome Kinetic