New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Green Light Go) "I started Split Screens as a solo project, to explore the tension between what we are and what we want to be," says
Jesse Cafiero, the band's singer, songwriter
and front man. "In movies, a split screens lets you see something that's going on in two places at the same time, a look at a single reality from different perspectives.
There's something surreal about a split screen; a quality I strive to capture in my songwriting."
Cafiero succeed in his goal with the Split Screens EP he released in 2012, a quiet excursion into a world steeped in sadness and introspection. With the exception of
drummer Rory O'Connor (Tycho, Com Truise) and the vibraphone of Geneva Harrison, Cafiero played all the instruments on the EP himself. To create the music
on Before the Storm, he enlisted members of his live band Phil Pristia, guitar; Debbie Neigher, keys; Kyle
Kelly Yahner, percussion with O'Connor, Harrison
and producer Jeremy
Black (Apollo Sunshine) reprising the roles they played on the EP. "It took a full year to make this album, from the first day of tracking to the
last day of mixing, it gave us plenty of time and freedom to experiment with new instruments and colors throughout the recording."
The music on Before the
Storm has the same wistful quality that made the Split Screens EP so compelling, but it's more upbeat, a breezy album that flows like a
buoyant pop symphony. The sighing sustained notes of Cafiero's lap steel and the expansive gospelflavored keyboards of "Stand Alone" mimic the breathless,
swooning feeling you get when you're falling in love. The impressionistic lyrics and serene vocals add to the song's inviting warmth. A punchy horn section and Rory
O'Conner's propulsive, multilayered percussion add to the funky R&B feel of "Home," a celebration of life's simple pleasures.
"
Close Your Eyes" is a dreamy meditation on the healing power of music, with soft chiming guitar textures and celestial lap steel pulling you into its serene landscape.
There's a touch of modern rock in "The Sinner." A bouncy backbeat, swooping bass and clattering rhythm guitar compliment Cafiero's yearning vocal. "Time To
Wait" is a showcase for Cafiero's free flowing keyboard improvisations and the ambient overtones that give the record its wideopen, larger than life feeling. Rock,
jazz, vintage soul and hints of classic pop float through the music, pulling you into the album's captivating tales of love and transcendence.
Cafiero started Split Screens after relocating to San Francisco in 2010. He was born in Pine Plains, a small town in upstate New York, and grew up playing stand
up and electric bass in jazz bands. "I've been playing piano since I was five and took bass lessons for 12 years, starting when I was 14," Cafiero says. "I graduated
with a BA in music and soon after began playing bass professionally with jazz, folk and rock performers, live and in the studio."
About
In San Francisco, Cafiero continued working as a sideman, but his interest in psychedelic music, coupled with his discovery of the sonic possibilities of the lap
steel guitar changed the course of his creative life. "I became a songwriter, vocalist, guitarist and bandleader. I've always written melodies, but didn't think
about writing songs until I started working on my EP."
The Split Screens EP was recorded with producer/engineer Jeremy
Black whose use of analog tape delay added an expansive aura to music's poignant, heavily
layered melancholy. Before the
Storm shows Cafiero moving to a new level of melodic and lyrical sophistication. "I'd like to write fun songs with nonsensical
lyrics, but it's against my nature," he says. "I'm more interested in exploring and understanding the hidden undercurrents that flow through life and inform our relationships."
Praise for
"...Cafiero's hazily stoned vocals push this enthusiastic yet relatively psychedelic tone into a tranquil fog..." -Obscure Sound
" [The Sinner], the newest single bakes in an upbeat rhythm with some long, mournful vocals for an effect Cafiero describes as "a kind of cowboy on mescaline imagery". - Sirens Of Decay
"...a glorious menage of shimmering riffs and shining vocal hooks, creating the perfectly languid soundtrack to those much-traveled roads that so many of us yearn to be a part."- Gold Flake Paint
