The unique harmonies of Christina Bulbenko and Rex Broome combine with jangling guitars, sparkling keyboards, soaring viola, and a singular sense of songcraft to create the essence of THE ARMOIRES. It's sunshine pop with a kick, tapping the rich Southern California pop rock heritage from The Byrds to X and back to hits-era Fleetwood Mac, and melding it with a twist of English psychedelia and postpunk drive. The sweet and sour vocal sound gives life to Broome and Bulbenko's sophisticated lyrics – sometimes funny, sometimes heart-wrenching, always a bit mysterious. It's a dreamlike combination of the warm and the unsettling that's captured ears and hearts wherever The Armoires travel, and is as instantly recognizable as the pair's visual profile: matching paisley attire, spectacles and platinum blonde hair.
The band is widely known as the founders and leading lights of the Big Stir collective, encompassing a record label, concert series magazine and more, dedicated to the musical community of the global pop-rock scene. But The Armoires are an artistic force of their own, constantly reinventing themselves. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the approach taken to their new album INCONGNITO: The record's tracks were released throughout 2020 and 2021 as a series of singles attributed to fictitious band of their own invention. The result is a surprising record of joyful experimentalism and playfulness that loses none of the band's signature sound, but pushes in exciting new directions. It's the band playing dress-up in order to rediscover themselves.
INCOGNITO, like its breakthrough predecessor ZIBALDONE, is a sly exploration of what the pop-rock form can be, but its reach is wider and its vibe looser. The band, completed by violist LARYSA BULBENKO, bassist CLIFFORD ULRICH, and JOHN BORACK in his debut as the band's drummer, is again aided and abetted by an impressive array of co-conspirators from the band's international extended family. It's a testament to the work Bulbenko and Broome have put into nurturing that community, but it's also the sound of a band stretching out and seeing what it can become when all bets are off, and it's only the next step in their strangely compelling journey. What comes next as the typically hard-gigging band looks forward to returning to the stage in the coming year, we can only wait see. For now, as THE ARMOIRES unmask themselves after their undercover experiment with identity, the music testifies to the fact that they're ready for anything.
Deluxe Digipak with slipcase and foldout poster. Track list: 1. Paris 1919 2. (Just Can't See) The Attraction 3. I Say We Take Off And Nuke The Site From Orbit 4. Yellow River 5. Bagfoot Run 6. Homebound 7. The Night I Heard A Scream 8. Senses Working Overtime 9. Words And Music 10. Jackrabbit Protector 11. Walking Distance 12. Ohma, Bring Your Light Into This Place 13. Magenta Moon 14. Great Distances 15. Awkward City Limits (plus hidden tracks)
Vinyl LP with 8-page full color booklet. Ships starting August 2.
SIDE ONE: 1) Appalachukrainia 2) Pushing Forty 3) McCadden 4) The Romantic Dream Appears Before Us 5) Suddenly Succulents
SIDE TWO: 1) (How Did You Make) A Mistake Like Me? 2) Satellite Business 3) Is Drama Sue Here? 4) Alesandra 619 5) Just Like Carl Crew Said 6) When We Were In England (And You Were Dead)
THE ARMOIRES return with their keenly-awaited second album ZIBALDONE. The Burbank, CA band's co-leaders Christina Bulbenko (vocals, keys) and Rex Broome (vocals, guitar) describe the new work as a sonic love letter to music itself: the music that inspired them and the music of their friends and fellow travelers on the stages of the global pop rock scene. The album will be available on vinyl, CD and digital download through Big Stir Records on August 2.
THE ARMOIRES arrived quietly on the music scene with their debut album Incidental Lightshow – a lovely but grief-shadowed record deeply informed by the loss of Christina's son Ian midway through its creation – in 2016. Since that time, Broome and Bulbenko have semi-famously poured their hearts and souls into the nurturing of the music scene which has embraced them by founding Big Stir, a rapidly rising and widely admired international record label, live concert series, magazine and general community hub for creators and lovers of melodic rock.
The band themselves, having solidified their lineup with Christina's daughter Larysa (viola, backing vocals), Clifford Ulrich (bass, harmonica, backing vocals) and Derek Hanna (drums), have gigged, toured and written relentlessly during Big Stir Records' gestation, but remained silent on the recording front for the first 12 releases on the burgeoning label they themselves founded. Earlier this year, the SIDE THREE EP appeared, introducing the band as they are now, over 100 gigs deep into their proper career: a boisterous, exuberant but sophisticated pop combo joyously banging their way through four raucous, jangling originals and a cover of a New Pornographers classic.
ZIBALDONE, produced, like the EP, by Plasticsoul's Steven Eric Wilson with a deft and empathetic touch, is a deeper dive into the same waters and crackles with the energy of a band that's found its voices... or voices, if you will. The unique harmonies of Broome and Bulbenko are the anchor, ornamented by the refined 12-string and viola lead interplay that's become the band's secondary signature. The road-tested immediacy of the EP is still very much evident, but the pallet is more varied. Alongside a clutch of vibrant rockers are the charming Go-Betweens-meet-The Beach Boys shuffle of “McCadden”, the aqueous post-punk jangle-dub of “The Romantic Dream Appears Before Us”, the low-desert chamber-pop of “Suddenly Succulents”, the pedal-steel-sweetened melancholy of “Satellite Business” and the surf-klezmer clang of “Just Like Carl Crew Said”. A veritable host of the band's friends from the pop scene show up for the party, as whimsically depicted by artist Joseph Champniss on the strikingly detailed jacket art. Along with Wilson himself, members of Spygenius, The Bobbleheads, The Corner Laughers, Toxic Melons and Blake Jones from The Trike Shop (on theremin no less!) appear, and ace harmonies from Michael Simmons and Steve Rosenbaum weave in and out between the leads... even former Soft Boy Matthew Seligman takes a turn on bass (as do Ruth Rogers of Spygenius and Broome's daughter Miranda). But despite the impressive and warm support of these luminaries, The Armoires sound more like themselves than ever before: the distinctive drumming of Hanna ties it all together, while shared lead harmonies (ranging from sunshine pop sweetness to X-like co-howls) and the bed of guitar, keys and viola, all finessed to its organic ideal by Wilson's production touch, are unmistakable for anyone else.
“Incidental Lightshow was a record we had to make at the time”, says Broome, “and Zibaldone is the record we wanted to make.” The songs are the proof – they're lyrically playful and strewn with characters and mementos of the band's experiences. The record is bookended by the soaring “Appalachukrainia” and the deeply Robyn Hitchcock-indebted “When We Were In England (And You Were Dead)”, both virtual travelogues of The Armoires' two transformative swings through the UK. The band's personal musical idols crop up repeatedly. You'll catch references to The Who, Blondie, Dylan, Bob Mould, Neil Young, The Jazz Butcher and R.E.M. alongside the aforementioned X and Soft Boys and many of Bulbenko and Broome's contemporaries. It's no trainspotter's checklist for the pair, though, but a loving acknowledgement of the musical air they breathe and the inspirational power of the songs, old and new, that fuel and define them.
A strain of defiance against the middle-aged wasteland runs through tunes like “Pushing Forty”, “McCadden” and the barbershop Buzzcocks bash of “Is Drama Sue Here?”, songs that could only have been written by parents (and teachers). The Motown-meets-The Byrds stomp of the lead single “(How Did You Make) A Mistake Like Me?” nods to Christina's Detroit roots while “Satellite Business” draws on Rex's own West Virginia origins. Longtime live favorite “Alesandra 619” achieves psychedelic majesty in Wilson's ethereal mix, and Christina's vocal on the delicate “Suddenly Succulents” is a true heartbreaker. The overall package is, typically for The Armoires, timeless, at once sounding like it might have sprung from the late '60s Sunset Strip, the charts of the mid-'80s college rock heyday, or last weekend at Joe's Great American in Burbank.
The release of Zibaldone will, unsurprisingly, be followed by a new round of touring for The Armoires well into 2020 in the US and UK, sharing stages with their BSR labelmates and other beloved collaborators. New material is already in the wings as the band moves ever forward. “It's no wonder I feel like I'm dreaming”, goes the chorus to “Alesandra 619”, and The Armoires seem intent on pursuing that romantic dream for some time to come.
Ships starting August
Track List 1) Appalachukrainia 2) Pushing Forty 3) McCadden 4) The Romantic Dream Appears Before Us 5) Suddenly Succulents 6) (How Did You Make) A Mistake Like Me? 7) Satellite Business 8) Is Drama Sue Here? 9) Alesandra 619 10) Just Like Carl Crew Said 11) When We Were In England (And You Were Dead)
THE ARMOIRES return with their keenly-awaited second album ZIBALDONE. The Burbank, CA band's co-leaders Christina Bulbenko (vocals, keys) and Rex Broome (vocals, guitar) describe the new work as a sonic love letter to music itself: the music that inspired them and the music of their friends and fellow travelers on the stages of the global pop rock scene.
www.bigstirrecords.com/the-armoires
THE ARMOIRES arrived quietly on the music scene with their debut album Incidental Lightshow – a lovely but grief-shadowed record deeply informed by the loss of Christina's son Ian midway through its creation – in 2016. Since that time, Broome and Bulbenko have semi-famously poured their hearts and souls into the nurturing of the music scene which has embraced them by founding Big Stir, a rapidly rising and widely admired international record label, live concert series, magazine and general community hub for creators and lovers of melodic rock.
The band themselves, having solidified their lineup with Christina's daughter Larysa (viola, backing vocals), Clifford Ulrich (bass, harmonica, backing vocals) and Derek Hanna (drums), have gigged, toured and written relentlessly during Big Stir Records' gestation, but remained silent on the recording front for the first 12 releases on the burgeoning label they themselves founded. Earlier this year, the SIDE THREE EP appeared, introducing the band as they are now, over 100 gigs deep into their proper career: a boisterous, exuberant but sophisticated pop combo joyously banging their way through four raucous, jangling originals and a cover of a New Pornographers classic.
ZIBALDONE, produced, like the EP, by Plasticsoul's Steven Eric Wilson with a deft and empathetic touch, is a deeper dive into the same waters and crackles with the energy of a band that's found its voices... or voices, if you will. The unique harmonies of Broome and Bulbenko are the anchor, ornamented by the refined 12-string and viola lead interplay that's become the band's secondary signature. The road-tested immediacy of the EP is still very much evident, but the pallet is more varied. Alongside a clutch of vibrant rockers are the charming Go-Betweens-meet-The Beach Boys shuffle of “McCadden”, the aqueous post-punk jangle-dub of “The Romantic Dream Appears Before Us”, the low-desert chamber-pop of “Suddenly Succulents”, the pedal-steel-sweetened melancholy of “Satellite Business” and the surf-klezmer clang of “Just Like Carl Crew Said”. A veritable host of the band's friends from the pop scene show up for the party, as whimsically depicted by artist Joseph Champniss on the strikingly detailed jacket art. Along with Wilson himself, members of Spygenius, The Bobbleheads, The Corner Laughers, Toxic Melons and Blake Jones from The Trike Shop (on theremin no less!) appear, and ace harmonies from Michael Simmons and Steve Rosenbaum weave in and out between the leads... even former Soft Boy Matthew Seligman takes a turn on bass (as do Ruth Rogers of Spygenius and Broome's daughter Miranda). But despite the impressive and warm support of these luminaries, The Armoires sound more like themselves than ever before: the distinctive drumming of Hanna ties it all together, while shared lead harmonies (ranging from sunshine pop sweetness to X-like co-howls) and the bed of guitar, keys and viola, all finessed to its organic ideal by Wilson's production touch, are unmistakable for anyone else.
“Incidental Lightshow was a record we had to make at the time”, says Broome, “and Zibaldone is the record we wanted to make.” The songs are the proof – they're lyrically playful and strewn with characters and mementos of the band's experiences. The record is bookended by the soaring “Appalachukrainia” and the deeply Robyn Hitchcock-indebted “When We Were In England (And You Were Dead)”, both virtual travelogues of The Armoires' two transformative swings through the UK. The band's personal musical idols crop up repeatedly. You'll catch references to The Who, Blondie, Dylan, Bob Mould, Neil Young, The Jazz Butcher and R.E.M. alongside the aforementioned X and Soft Boys and many of Bulbenko and Broome's contemporaries. It's no trainspotter's checklist for the pair, though, but a loving acknowledgement of the musical air they breathe and the inspirational power of the songs, old and new, that fuel and define them.
A strain of defiance against the middle-aged wasteland runs through tunes like “Pushing Forty”, “McCadden” and the barbershop Buzzcocks bash of “Is Drama Sue Here?”, songs that could only have been written by parents (and teachers). The Motown-meets-The Byrds stomp of the lead single “(How Did You Make) A Mistake Like Me?” nods to Christina's Detroit roots while “Satellite Business” draws on Rex's own West Virginia origins. Longtime live favorite “Alesandra 619” achieves psychedelic majesty in Wilson's ethereal mix, and Christina's vocal on the delicate “Suddenly Succulents” is a true heartbreaker. The overall package is, typically for The Armoires, timeless, at once sounding like it might have sprung from the late '60s Sunset Strip, the charts of the mid-'80s college rock heyday, or last weekend at Joe's Great American in Burbank.
The release of Zibaldone will, unsurprisingly, be followed by a new round of touring for The Armoires well into 2020 in the US and UK, sharing stages with their BSR labelmates and other beloved collaborators. New material is already in the wings as the band moves ever forward. “It's no wonder I feel like I'm dreaming”, goes the chorus to “Alesandra 619”, and The Armoires seem intent on pursuing that romantic dream for some time to come.
THE ARMOIRES: SIDE THREE on CD contains two bonus tracks not available with the Dowload version! Pre-release, ships on or before MAY 17.
THE ARMOIRES are back with their first new release in three years.
The Side Three EP isn't the new album – that's coming in August in the form of the Zibaldone LP. This record is exactly what it says it is: the third side, a completely unique set of tunes to introduce The Armoires as they are in 2019, produced (like the album) by Steven Wilson of PLASTICSOUL (with one track helmed by Peter Watts of SPYGENIUS) and bristling with the energy of a group that's spent three years on the road making friends, finding out who they are as a band, and liking it.
It's short, sharp, punchy and poppy, with the tandem harmonies of Christina Bulbenko and Rex Broome front and center and the familiar 12-string, viola and keyboard swirl weaving around them while the rhythm section hits like it's one of the over 100 live gigs the band has played since their debut record. There's the wry Crazy Horse-like prayer of “Some Kinda Handbook”, the gleeful ocean-going jangle of “Anemone!”, and the bristling New Pornographers cover “The Laws Have Changed” (a loving nod to one of The Armoires' key inspirations). “The Twelve-Inch” marries a Smiths-like college rock thrum to pedal steel and strings, and a sparklingly raucous complete makeover of the debut album's “Responsible” – which sounds like what might have happened if the The Plimsouls and The Bangles had been the same band – brings things to a breathless finish, unless you have the CD version, which contains two exclusive hidden tracks unavailable with the download version.
The long-standing live lineup of The Armoires – Rex (vocals and guitar), Christina (vocals and keys), her daughter Larysa Bulbenko (viola), drummer Derek Hanna and bassist-vocalist Clifford Ulrich – are augmented here by LA legends Robbie Rist and Patrick “Pooch” Dipuccio, Jeff Charreaux of The Walker Brigade, pedal steel wizard Jared Jenkins, multi-instrumentalist and band mentor Nathaniel Myer, producer Steven Wilson, and Rex's daughter Miranda Broome debuting as a guest bassist. The distinctive artwork comes courtesy of Big Stir Magazine mastermind Champniss of London.
Side Three will be released Friday, May 17 on CD and digital download on Big Stir Records and is available for pre-order now. Zibaldone will follow on LP and CD on August 2 as The Armoires embark on a busy touring schedule in support of both releases.
The debut album from Big Stir Records founders The Armoires.
Before The Armoires, the band's Rex, Derek and Cliff were Skates & Rays. The band's sole release "You Are My Home" features 9 Rex Broome originals (including a handful of future Armoires favorites) and three terrific tunes from Cliff!
BIG STIR RECORDS is slyly delighted to announce the April 1 release of a unique, surprise new album from THE ARMOIRES, available on CD and digitally at www.bigstirrecords.com/store and everywhere. INCOGNITO is the culmination of a six-month “secret project” that saw the Burbank quintet release a series of singles under fictitious band names,
BIG STIR RECORDS is slyly delighted to announce the April 1 release of a unique, surprise new album from THE ARMOIRES, available on CD and digitally at www.bigstirrecords.com/store and everywhere. INCOGNITO is the culmination of a six-month “secret project” that saw the Burbank quintet release a series of singles under fictitious band names, experimenting with their own identity in order to rediscover themselves. It's fifteen brand new tracks encompassing originals, covers, and the dazzling variety of styles and genres the band explored while working undercover. The record is sprawling and experimental, but anchored to the singular harmonies of founders CHRISTINA BULBENKO and REX BROOME, and sounding unmistakably like THE ARMOIRES.
All eight pseudonymous singles, released between October 2020 and April 2021, are collected here in a deluxe CD package. A slipcase featuring the band in disguise reveals their umasked portraits when removed, and a foldout mini-poster displays the sleeve art for each single as issued under the original invented band names. It's an apt presentation for a document of one of the most unusual pop-rock responses to the challenges of the past year.
So, what do imaginative kids do when they get grounded? They make their own fun. Over the past six months The Armoires, as they put it, decided to “play dress-up,” and it turns out the world is very lucky that they did. Teased out in eight segments from the Halloween season through April Fool's Day, the delirious results are now collected on disc as INCOGNITO. And, in the cherished tradition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Turtles Present The Battle Of The Bands, and The Dukes Of Stratosphear, their decision to go in incredibly diverse directions under eight brilliant disguises has led to some of the warmest and most rewarding moments in their already cherished catalog.
Following their acclaimed 2019 album ZIBALDONE and the installation of new drummer JOHN BORACK, The Armoires found themselves writing songs for a “real live-in-the-studio record”, with no end in sight for their relentless touring schedule. And then (bang bang) COVID's silver hammer came down upon those plans. Faced with not only the challenge to respond as artists but also an uncertain fate for their roles running Big Stir Records, frontpersons Rex (vocals, guitar) and Christina (vocals, keys) made the difficult decision to delay the planned-for “proper” third album until full in-person collaboration returned to the table as a possibility.
But as Broome and Bulbenko, in their record label personae, passionately pushed the music of others, the music pushed back. Sister labels like Futureman, SpyderPop and Curry Cuts continued to send challenging commissions down Burbank way for that deep woody Armoires veneer. Balancing commerce and creativity, the pair (and the band) carried on to fulfill those requests with several delightful covers -- XTC’s “Senses Working Overtime,” John Cale’s “Paris 1919,” Andy Gibb’s “Words and Music,” 20/20’s “The Night I Heard A Scream,” and Christie’s “Yellow River.” A new home-recording workflow emerged. The Armoires were reborn, reconfigured.
Between all of these homages and Christina's renewed fascination with a handful of unfinished originals that never quite fit the Armoires mold, an ingenious concept for presenting the new work emerged. Maybe these weren’t an album, but a series of singles (Big Stir’s kind of great at those, after all). And with all the diversity in the arrangements and even the authorship... maybe they could play with who “The Armoires” are in how the tracks saw release. Maybe they would create an eclectic roster of “other” bands, with idiosyncratic backstories, and release the singles under those bands’ names. Maybe it was time to find themselves by being someone else.
The freedom afforded by this masquerade approach set the tone for the most playful sessions ever undertaken by the group. As to the “fake bands” invented as the facades for the singles, they're shorthanded by Rex as follows: “Art rock for October Surprise, 'sunshine sludge' for D.F.E., straight roots country for The Chessie System ... glam-psych for The Ceramic Age, cowpunk for Zed Cats, C86 tweeness for Tina & The Tiny Potatoes, shameless vintage college rock from Gospel Swamps. And a more pure strain of power pop than we've ever attempted, framed as the cartoon band The Yes It Is!” Two of these nonexistent bands would even land airplay on Rodney Bingenheimer's Sirius XM show -- an Armoires first and longtime dream -- despite their true identity remaining unrevealed until now. Others garnered warm reviews and inquiries as to where more could be found.
Every Armoires release is a family affair, with the mother-daughter axis of vocalist/keyboardist Christina and violist LARYSA BULBENKO at its heart. With bassist CLIFFORD ULRICH sidelined by his essential-worker duties, the father/child duo of Rex and MIRANDA BROOME split the bulk of the album’s bass work. RIDLEY BROOME provides the graphic design, complemented by watercolors from Larysa. “Yellow River” even brings on board Rex’s father “COACH” JIM BROOME for a vocal cameo, and “Bagfoot Run” sees Larysa's progressive bluegrass outfit THE OLD CORN LICKERS providing the freewheeling, rootsy foundation. But this being a Big Stir production, “family” extends to the global pop community as a whole, and remote collaborations abound.
The friendliest of ghost voices are supplied by The Corner Laughers on “Paris 1919.” Blake Jones croons on (and co-wrote) “Homebound”. Peter Watts (Spygenius) adds 12-string to one track, and among the guitarists in play across the album are Dolph Chaney, Chris Church, Jon Melkerson (Eggplant), and Nathaniel Myer. The guest cast for “Senses Working Overtime,” alone encompasses Chaney, Jones, bassist Julian Moss (Charms Against The Evil Eye) and Karen Basset (Pandoras) on the drums. Longtime collaborator Derek Hanna and The Brothers Steve's Steve Coulter each take turns behind the kit, but it's Borack who dominates in his debut as the band's definitive drummer, fueling the vibe of rediscovery and reinvention at the record's heart. An international coterie of audio wizards split the remote mixing duties: Adam Brisben, Joel Valder, Steven Wilson (Plasticsoul), Michael Simmons (sparkle*jets U.K.), Peter Watts, and Nick Frater (fresh off his own 2020 BSR debut Fast & Loose).
As unusual as the project is, the band’s core -- the great songs, sound, and unique chemistry of the central members -- remains in good health, and as clear and present as ever. Giddy looseness reigns, but there’s no shortage of finely-figured craft in the songwriting, harmonies, and arrangements. And there’s a new confidence, even a palpable swagger, to the performances. The drifting “(Just Can’t See) The Attraction,” the hilariously looming memesplosion “I Say We Take Off And Nuke The Site From Orbit,” the chugging “Walking Distance,” the epic, Miyazaki-derived “Ohma, Bring Your Light Into This Place,” and the prog-stomping “Awkward City Limits” are among the disparate highlights. The Armoires here are a band – or several bands – for all seasons.
INCOGNITO may be viewed as a collection of singles, an experimental but giddy pop album in its own right, or a sequential journal of a band reinventing itself for its own time and the days to come. Far from the sound of a band marking time during a challenging period, it's a document of joy and discovery despite the tenor of the times. As THE ARMOIRES unmask themselves and invite you in on the secret of their Cosplay Singles, Larysa sums up the record in her liner notes: “We hope you find a little of us, a little of you, and a little of whatever else you’re looking for on this journey to self-discovery through going INCOGNITO.”
THE ARMOIRES return with their keenly-awaited second album ZIBALDONE. The Burbank, CA band's co-leaders Christina Bulbenko (vocals, keys) and Rex Broome (vocals, guitar) describe the new work as a sonic love letter to music itself: the music that inspired them and the music of their friends and fellow travelers on the stages of the global pop rock
THE ARMOIRES return with their keenly-awaited second album ZIBALDONE. The Burbank, CA band's co-leaders Christina Bulbenko (vocals, keys) and Rex Broome (vocals, guitar) describe the new work as a sonic love letter to music itself: the music that inspired them and the music of their friends and fellow travelers on the stages of the global pop rock scene. The album will be available on vinyl, CD and digital download through Big Stir Records on August 2.
THE ARMOIRES arrived quietly on the music scene with their debut album Incidental Lightshow – a lovely but grief-shadowed record deeply informed by the loss of Christina's son Ian midway through its creation – in 2016. Since that time, Broome and Bulbenko have semi-famously poured their hearts and souls into the nurturing of the music scene which has embraced them by founding Big Stir, a rapidly rising and widely admired international record label, live concert series, magazine and general community hub for creators and lovers of melodic rock.
The band themselves, having solidified their lineup with Christina's daughter Larysa (viola, backing vocals), Clifford Ulrich (bass, harmonica, backing vocals) and Derek Hanna (drums), have gigged, toured and written relentlessly during Big Stir Records' gestation, but remained silent on the recording front for the first 12 releases on the burgeoning label they themselves founded. Earlier this year, the SIDE THREE EP appeared, introducing the band as they are now, over 100 gigs deep into their proper career: a boisterous, exuberant but sophisticated pop combo joyously banging their way through four raucous, jangling originals and a cover of a New Pornographers classic.
ZIBALDONE, produced, like the EP, by Plasticsoul's Steven Eric Wilson with a deft and empathetic touch, is a deeper dive into the same waters and crackles with the energy of a band that's found its voices... or voices, if you will. The unique harmonies of Broome and Bulbenko are the anchor, ornamented by the refined 12-string and viola lead interplay that's become the band's secondary signature. The road-tested immediacy of the EP is still very much evident, but the pallet is more varied. Alongside a clutch of vibrant rockers are the charming Go-Betweens-meet-The Beach Boys shuffle of “McCadden”, the aqueous post-punk jangle-dub of “The Romantic Dream Appears Before Us”, the low-desert chamber-pop of “Suddenly Succulents”, the pedal-steel-sweetened melancholy of “Satellite Business” and the surf-klezmer clang of “Just Like Carl Crew Said”. A veritable host of the band's friends from the pop scene show up for the party, as whimsically depicted by artist Joseph Champniss on the strikingly detailed jacket art. Along with Wilson himself, members of Spygenius, The Bobbleheads, The Corner Laughers, Toxic Melons and Blake Jones from The Trike Shop (on theremin no less!) appear, and ace harmonies from Michael Simmons and Steve Rosenbaum weave in and out between the leads... even former Soft Boy Matthew Seligman takes a turn on bass (as do Ruth Rogers of Spygenius and Broome's daughter Miranda). But despite the impressive and warm support of these luminaries, The Armoires sound more like themselves than ever before: the distinctive drumming of Hanna ties it all together, while shared lead harmonies (ranging from sunshine pop sweetness to X-like co-howls) and the bed of guitar, keys and viola, all finessed to its organic ideal by Wilson's production touch, are unmistakable for anyone else.
“Incidental Lightshow was a record we had to make at the time”, says Broome, “and Zibaldone is the record we wanted to make.” The songs are the proof – they're lyrically playful and strewn with characters and mementos of the band's experiences. The record is bookended by the soaring “Appalachukrainia” and the deeply Robyn Hitchcock-indebted “When We Were In England (And You Were Dead)”, both virtual travelogues of The Armoires' two transformative swings through the UK. The band's personal musical idols crop up repeatedly. You'll catch references to The Who, Blondie, Dylan, Bob Mould, Neil Young, The Jazz Butcher and R.E.M. alongside the aforementioned X and Soft Boys and many of Bulbenko and Broome's contemporaries. It's no trainspotter's checklist for the pair, though, but a loving acknowledgement of the musical air they breathe and the inspirational power of the songs, old and new, that fuel and define them.
A strain of defiance against the middle-aged wasteland runs through tunes like “Pushing Forty”, “McCadden” and the barbershop Buzzcocks bash of “Is Drama Sue Here?”, songs that could only have been written by parents (and teachers). The Motown-meets-The Byrds stomp of the lead single “(How Did You Make) A Mistake Like Me?” nods to Christina's Detroit roots while “Satellite Business” draws on Rex's own West Virginia origins. Longtime live favorite “Alesandra 619” achieves psychedelic majesty in Wilson's ethereal mix, and Christina's vocal on the delicate “Suddenly Succulents” is a true heartbreaker. The overall package is, typically for The Armoires, timeless, at once sounding like it might have sprung from the late '60s Sunset Strip, the charts of the mid-'80s college rock heyday, or last weekend at Joe's Great American in Burbank.
The release of Zibaldone will, unsurprisingly, be followed by a new round of touring for The Armoires well into 2020 in the US and UK, sharing stages with their BSR labelmates and other beloved collaborators. New material is already in the wings as the band moves ever forward. “It's no wonder I feel like I'm dreaming”, goes the chorus to “Alesandra 619”, and The Armoires seem intent on pursuing that romantic dream for some time to come.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The CD release of SIDE THREE contains two bonus tracks not available with the Download version!
THE ARMOIRES are back with their first new release in three years.
The Side Three EP isn't the new album – that's coming in August in the form of the Zibaldone LP. This record is exactly what it says it is: the third side, a completely
IMPORTANT NOTE: The CD release of SIDE THREE contains two bonus tracks not available with the Download version!
THE ARMOIRES are back with their first new release in three years.
The Side Three EP isn't the new album – that's coming in August in the form of the Zibaldone LP. This record is exactly what it says it is: the third side, a completely unique set of tunes to introduce The Armoires as they are in 2019, produced (like the album) by Steven Wilson of PLASTICSOUL (with one track helmed by Peter Watts of SPYGENIUS) and bristling with the energy of a group that's spent three years on the road making friends, finding out who they are as a band, and liking it.
It's short, sharp, punchy and poppy, with the tandem harmonies of Christina Bulbenko and Rex Broome front and center and the familiar 12-string, viola and keyboard swirl weaving around them while the rhythm section hits like it's one of the over 100 live gigs the band has played since their debut record. There's the wry Crazy Horse-like prayer of “Some Kinda Handbook”, the gleeful ocean-going jangle of “Anemone!”, and the bristling New Pornographers cover “The Laws Have Changed” (a loving nod to one of The Armoires' key inspirations). “The Twelve-Inch” marries a Smiths-like college rock thrum to pedal steel and strings, and a sparklingly raucous complete makeover of the debut album's “Responsible” – which sounds like what might have happened if the The Plimsouls and The Bangles had been the same band – brings things to a breathless finish, unless you have the CD version, which contains two exclusive hidden tracks unavailable with the download version.
The long-standing live lineup of The Armoires – Rex (vocals and guitar), Christina (vocals and keys), her daughter Larysa Bulbenko (viola), drummer Derek Hanna and bassist-vocalist Clifford Ulrich – are augmented here by LA legends Robbie Rist and Patrick “Pooch” Dipuccio, Jeff Charreaux of The Walker Brigade, pedal steel wizard Jared Jenkins, multi-instrumentalist and band mentor Nathaniel Myer, producer Steven Wilson, and Rex's daughter Miranda Broome debuting as a guest bassist. The distinctive artwork comes courtesy of Big Stir Magazine mastermind Champniss of London.
Side Three will be released Friday, May 17 on CD and digital download on Big Stir Records and is available for pre-order now. Zibaldone will follow on LP and CD on August 2 as The Armoires embark on a busy touring schedule in support of both releases.
THE ARMOIRES, the Burbank-based combo led by BIG STIR RECORDS founders CHRISTINA BULBENKO and REX BROOME, are back with their first release since their 2016 debut album Incidental Lightshow. "(How Did You Make) A Mistake Like Me?" b/w "Not a Good Man" will be released Friday, April 6 as the 23rd Big Stir Digital Single and they're available for
THE ARMOIRES, the Burbank-based combo led by BIG STIR RECORDS founders CHRISTINA BULBENKO and REX BROOME, are back with their first release since their 2016 debut album Incidental Lightshow. "(How Did You Make) A Mistake Like Me?" b/w "Not a Good Man" will be released Friday, April 6 as the 23rd Big Stir Digital Single and they're available for pre-order now!
www.bigstirrecords.com/big-stir-digital-singles
It's a vastly different world for THE ARMOIRES since Incidental Lightshow was quietly issued three years ago. Bulbenko and Broome have devoted themselves to musical community building under the Big Stir banner, creating the ongoing live concert series in LA and South London, the BSR label, Big Stir Magazine and much more, while the band has racked up well over 100 live performances honing their sound and sharing stages with their new friends from the global pop scene. All the while they've been collaborating with producer STEVEN WILSON (PLASTICSOUL) on their second LP. The sessions have yielded both the Zibaldone album, due in August, and a completely separate EP, Side Three, which will see release in May.
Our A-side, "(How Did You Make) A Mistake Like Me?" is an advance single from Zibaldone. A vocal feature for Christina with a stylistic nod to her Detroit roots, it also features bass provided by RUTH ROGERS of BSR's own SPYGENIUS (Canterbury, UK) and a backing vocal group made up of Broome, Wilson, and JOHN ASHFIELD of THE BOBBLEHEADS, as well as groovy keys from the band's friend RANDY THOMPSON. As with all the Zibaldone session tracks, core Armoires DEREK HANNA on drums and LARYSA BULBENKO on viola round out the band. Christina's vocals on both sides hearken back to her acting days as she takes on "bad girl" characters counter to her real life persona with sly relish. The tune was originally inspired by another BSR artist but quickly became something very different, as Broome explains:
"I was lucky enough in the early days of Big Stir Records to have an advance copy of PLASTICSOUL's Therapy and was extremely envious of 'Keeping A Light On" with its 'Satisfaction'/'Cinnamon Girl' beat, and the title hook for 'Mistake' dropped out of the ether. But it didn't feel like a garage rocker to be sung by an angry guy, and I thought, hey, the Stones got that beat from Motown, and Christina's a Detroit girl -- this is probably something she could really sink her teeth into. There was a horn line written for the tune but that felt a little like pastiche, and Larysa and I had developed a dual lead tactic with viola and electric 12-string that we were using a lot, so we used that instead and it feels a lot more Armoires that way!"
The exclusive non-album B-side "Not A Good Man" is both completely new and also a throwback to the earliest days of The Armoires: it was the fist song the band ever performed live and has rarely been heard since. The track is freshly produced by NATHANIEL MYER, without whom the group would not be what it is today and who also plays drums, bass and the guitar solo on the track. It's a stomper, a pop-rock take on the kind of duets that defined both June Carter and Johnny Cash, and John Doe and Exene of The Armoires' beloved LA forerunners X, although depending on who you ask, the song's theatrical playfulness may land closer to Meat Loaf and Patti Russo. Either way, we're happy to finally be able to present it!
Zibaldone will be released as a CD, vinyl LP and digital download August 2 on Big Stir Records (with the unique Side Three EP preceding it in May).
The debut album from Big Stir founders The Armoires.
Before The Armoires, Rex, Cliff & Derek were Skates & Rays. Their sole album features early versions of a couple of Armoires favorites alongside other songs by Rex and Cliff that demonstrate where it all got started.
