The Special Pillow 'Sleeping Beauty' album

For more than ten years, The Special Pillow has been serving up songs by Dan Cuddy in a variety of flavors: sweet, sour, and psychedelic. Sleeping Beauty finds the band streamlining its roster, sharpening its hooks, and expanding its musical palette. The pop songs are ridiculously catchy, the freaky parts are super-freaky, the heavy rock is extra heavy, and the quieter moments are ultra-pastoral. Special Pillow stalwart Katie Gentile handles all the string parts and steps up to the mic for a lead vocal on “Blue Always.” Katie was a member of Run On and has appeared on recordings by Yo La Tengo, Antietam, and Tralala. Recorded with Dane Johnson at Jersey City's Grisly Labs, with additional sessions helmed by Peter DuCharme at NYC's Music for Picture, Sleeping Beauty's wake-up calls and lullabies just might be the music of your dreams.

biography
For more than ten years, The Special Pillow has been serving up songs by Dan Cuddy in a variety of flavors: sweet, sour, and psychedelic. The veteran indie-pop ensemble convenes on Monday evenings in a dusty and decrepit cell across the street from Manhattan's Port Authority Bus Terminal, honing a distinctive, string-driven sound, described in The Village Voice as "blissful and expansive."

Sleeping Beauty, the third album by The Special Pillow, finds the band streamlining its roster, sharpening its hooks, and expanding its musical palette. The pop songs are ridiculously catchy, the freaky parts are super-freaky, the heavy rock is extra heavy and rocky, and the quieter moments are ultra-pastoral.

Special Pillow stalwart Katie Gentile handles all the string parts on violin and viola and steps up to the mic for a lead vocal on "Blue Always." Katie was a member of Run On and has appeared on recordings by Yo La Tengo, Antietam, and Tralala. She is the author of Creating Bodies: Eating Disorders as Self-Destructive Survival (The Analytic Press, 2006), and sings the theme song to WFMU's Transpacific Sound Paradise.

Making his recording debut with the group, multi-instrumentalist Peter Stuart plays a number of exotic guitars and basses, as well as ukulele, mandola, and mandocello. He and Katie also chime in with plenty of harmony singing. Peter was a member of The Tryfles, The Headless Horsemen, and Wirebirds, and has performed with such notable acts as The Standells, The Beau Brummels, Blues Magoos, Mark Lindsay, and Richard Lloyd.

In addition to his steadfast drums, percussion, and technical wizardry, Peter Walsh introduces a subtly dazzling array of keyboard sounds into the mix and takes a turn on bass. A former member of Hypnolovewheel, Peter has drummed for Guv'ner and the Tara Key/Rick Rizzo Band, among others.

Recorded for the most part with Dane Johnson at Jersey City's Grisly Labs, with additional sessions helmed by Peter DuCharme at NYC's Music for Picture and Peter Walsh at All Mod Cons, Sleeping Beauty's wake-up calls and lullabies just might be the music of your dreams.

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The Special Pillow - Sleeping Beauty