"Swingshift", by R.E. Seraphin

"Swingshift"

by R.E. Seraphin

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Cassette + Digital Album
The U.S. cassette edition of R.E. Seraphin's "Swing Shift" EP - limited to 100 copies.

Includes unlimited streaming of "Swingshift" via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Playing House 03:08	buy track
2.	Big Break 02:51	buy track
3.	Stuck In Reno 01:58	buy track
4.	The Virtue of Being Wrong 01:43	buy track
5.	Miss Grief 03:21	buy track
6.	I'll Be Around 02:49	buy track
7.	This Time There's No Happy Ending 02:15	buy track

about

San Francisco Bay Area guitar pop stalwart R.E. Seraphin returns with his EP Swingshift, a joint release via Mt. St. Mtn (vinyl US), Dandy Boy Records (cassettes US) and Safe Suburban Homes (cassettes UK). The seven-track home-recorded E.P., featuring both originals and inspired takes on songs by The Wipers and Television Personalities, finds frontman Ray Seraphin joined by colleagues Matt Bullimore (Mantles), Joel Cusumano (Sob Stories), Yea-Ming Chen (Dreamdate, Yea-Ming and the Rumours), Jasper Leach (Burner Herzog) and guitarist Owen Kelley (Owen Adair Kelley).

With the onset of COVID lockdowns, Seraphin rapidly changed his approach to recording, tracking all basics on his iPhone and working with his collaborators via share networks. Rather than feeling constricted by the process, he found a new freedom. “Now, I could record whatever I wanted in my bedroom and send it to whoever I wanted, free of any intraband politics,” he says. “Recording something as I’m writing it has an immediacy that really works for me.” The resultant EP A Room Forever found wide acclaim in the online blog world, firmly establishing Seraphin as a dynamic, multifaceted new voice in independent music.

Seraphin returned to his room and trusty phone last spring to craft his most ambitious work yet in Swingshift. Densely layered, the EP’s sheen brings to mind The Replacements gone psychedelic, Cheap Trick gone to Mars, Cleaners from Venus if they bothered to mix their records. Looking to move on from the muted earth tones dominating much underground music today, he goaded producer Bullimore into piling on the synths, and guitarists Cusumano and Kelley into some surprising guitar acrobatics. “To get away from that sound,” explains R.E., “I pushed for Journey-style solos – a year ago, I would have never even allowed anything like that!” Inspired this round by Ultra Vivid Scene, Miracle Legion and current power-pop maverick Young Guv, Seraphin’s songwriting is delightfully economic, each tune briefly introducing a new sonic world and setting before moving onto the next.

“My songs tend to explore a more visceral perspective,” says R.E., “rather than any abstract declaration of love.” Opener “Playing House” explores “a 21st century Bonnie-and-Clyde scenario,” says Seraphin, “imagining starting a new life with someone that way.” Over a driving swagger that recalls original home recording heroes Shoes, he croons, “Skipped town with half a tank, got six bucks, baby in the bank/Red dog and blue light, we don’t sleep but we never fight.” “Stuck in Reno,” co-written with Flowertown’s Mikey Ramos, is a countrified travelogue that continues the on-the-road vibes – “I know all the flowers bloom/My heart is just high on fumes,” he and vocalist Hannah Kelley harmonize on the chorus. Laced with swirling synths and Petty-esque 12-string guitar, “Virtue of Being Wrong” explores a moment of tension between lovers – “They talk amongst themselves/their eyes burn like hell,” Seraphin and Yea-Ming Chen sing in unison.

Combining classic hooks, an adventurous sonic palette with an ever-distinctive voice, R.E. Seraphin’s Swingshift is yet another surprising turn for this emerging talent.

credits

released May 27, 2022

Recorded by Committee
Mixed and mastered by Matt Bullimore
except "I'll Be Around" mixed by Jasper Leach

Layout and design by Samuelito Cruz
Photo bt Tash del Valios

R.E. Seraphin - vocals, guitar, bass
Owen Adair Kelley - guitar and bass tracks 1, 3, 5. and 6. keyboards, vocals, programming
Matt Bullimore - guitar, keyboards, bass, vocals, percussion
Joel Cusumano - guitar on tracks 2 and 4, keyboards, vocals, programming
K.E. Seraphin - vocals on track 5
Hannah Moriah - vocals on track 3
Yea-Ming Chen - vocals on tracks 2, 4, 6, and 7
Jasper Leach - organ, handclaps on track 6

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about

Dandy Boy Records Oakland, California

Oakland based indie label.

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discography

EP 2

Sep 2023
One Place Left

Sep 2023
Move On

Aug 2023
Move On

Aug 2023

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