Office 'A Night At The Ritz' album

Scratchie/New Line Records are thrilled to announce the debut release from one of their newest signings, OFFICE. Due out September 25th, A NIGHT AT THE RITZ is full of the irresistible and sophisticated pop songs that have made this band one of the most popular acts in Chicago over the past year.

Recorded over the Winter and Spring of 2007, A NIGHT AT THE RITZ was produced by frontman Scott Masson, who, along with the band, did the majority of the work on the record at his apartment. Final touches and mixing took place at New York’s Stratosphere Sound.

Over the past year and a half, OFFICE has built an enormous organic buzz at home, through steady gigs in Chicago (including a performance at Lollapalooza ‘06) and Masson’s native Detroit, as well as through their two self-released demo albums. Though featured in nearly every publication in Chicago, the band also caught the attention of such national outlets as Billboard, who featured the band in their “Now Hear This” column; Magnet, who reviewed the band’s 2005 self-release, Q&A; NPR, which gave the band a “Song of the Day” feature; and Spin.com, who included OFFICE as one of 32 contenders for the 2007 Artist of the Year.

Born out of a series of conceptual art pieces at the turn of the century, OFFICE is the brainchild of Scott Masson. Masson would fill galleries with cubicle displays, Xereox paper, boxes, pop culture items. As he recalls, “They were all very minimal and blank-looking, but it was the start of some thematic dialogue within myself." After about a year, Masson turned his attention to music, recording numerous demos with various friends. In these songs, Masson dealt with similar themes to his sculptures: office imagery, city life, pop culture, work environments, love, social structure and money. A few years later, OFFICE became a full-fledged band, with the current lineup of guitarist Tom Smith, bassist Alissa Noonan, drummer Erica Corniel and backup singer/multi-instrumentalist Jessica Gonyea, and put out a self-released album of infectious new-wavey pop tunes entitled Q&A.

During the Summer of 2006, the band caught the ear of Scratchie Records owners James Iha and Adam Schlesinger, and the heads of parent company New Line Records, and by November, OFFICE had signed a deal with the label.

A NIGHT AT THE RITZ contains brand new material, as well as select gems culled from five years worth of demo recordings that have been re-worked and re-recorded. All persons involved with OFFICE and THE RITZ felt that these older songs were simply too good to not be released on a wider level. About the album, Masson muses, “This album has easily been the most grueling recording project I've ever been a part of, but also the most rewarding. It's not like this was setting up a band in the studio, and pressing the record button. There are tympanis, keyboards, concert percussion, electronic flourishes, machines, studio tricks, tape machines, choral vocals, and acoustic moments. It was years of revision, reworking, rethinking, subtracting, adding, and re-recording until it got to where it is now.” He adds, “I feel like we live in completely surreal times, and this album is a reaction to that sensation.”

biography
OFFICE’s debut album, A Night At The Ritz, has been five years in the making. What began as a one-man sculpture/visual art project in London years ago has become a full-fledged musical sensation. The brainchild of songwriter Scott Masson, OFFICE has blossomed into a creative collective of like-minded artists and musicians working together to create some of the most unique and exciting pop music in America today.

While it was the uncanny (and extremely prolific) songwriting ability of OFFICE that first attracted Scratchie Records label co-founder and ex-Smashing Pumpkin James Iha to the Chicago band, it was the cohesive energy and genuine camaraderie of guitarist Tom Smith, bassist Alissa Noonan, drummer Erica Corniel, keyboard/hand percussionist Jessica Gonyea and vocalist / rhythm guitarist Masson that prompted the rock icon to offer the band a home on his label.

Officially signing to Scratchie/New Line Records in October of 2006, OFFICE effectively put an exclamation point on a year that included a sold-out, month-long residency at historic Chicago venue Schubas in May, inclusion in the coveted “free download of the week” spot on iTunes that yielded over 300,000 downloads in June (busting into the Top 20!), a slot on the Q101 stage at Lollapalooza in August, and accolades in nearly every local publication, as well as nods from such national outlets as Billboard, Magnet and NPR to name a few.

With A Night At the Ritz, the band shows no sign of slowing down. The project incorporates the very best of five years of recording with a host of freshly penned material. On the album, Masson muses, “This album has easily been the most grueling recording project I've ever been a part of, but also the most rewarding. It's not like this was setting up a band in the studio, and pressing the record button. There are tympanis, keyboards, concert percussion, electronic flourishes, broken machines, studio tricks, tape contraptions, choral vocals, and acoustic nuances. It was years of revision, reworking, rethinking, subtracting, adding, and re-recording until it got to where it is now.” He adds, “I feel like we live in completely surreal times, and this album is a reaction to that. There are lovely things, and dirty things happening behind every corner. The same idea can be applied to this music.”

Taking a few weeks off from the confines of the studio to put their stamp on Austin, TX, OFFICE packed their second SXSW experience with six shows in four days, including sought-after performance slots at the FADER Fort, The NYLON House, Metro’s 25th Anniversary party and, of course, The Scratchie/New Line label showcase, where they put on one of the most talked about performances of the entire festival.

Recorded in various apartments, bedrooms and recording studios, OFFICE put the finishing touches on A Night At The Ritz in May at Scratchie co-owners James Iha and Adam Schlesinger’s Stratosphere Studios in New York City. The album will be released this September with extensive touring to follow.

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Tracklisting

Office - A Night At The Ritz