It's difficult adequately describe a band like Olympia's Sedan. Sedan released an amazing split with Thrones, a full length CD on Hamburgereyes, and self-released an awesome single "Patronized."Simply put, Sedan is Scott Seckington on piano, weaving together tunes that are oddly ambient and agitated at the same time. It's a one man show "with a more spacious vibe kinda going on."
Instrumental music gets a bad rap -- maybe it's attention spans or laziness, but the lack of lyrics leads people to think that instrumental music is inherently melodramatic and repetitive. That's a little shortsighted. For one, instrumental music takes on the daunting task of crafting a story without words. Sedan accomplishes this through the piano with some electronic accents here and there. It's a vivid and moody journey. Ambiance, however, remains an even more difficult cat to herd. At its finest, it erases the lines between background and foreground. It's an event that surrounds us and solicits us to participate within it. Once we start thinking about the experience, we lose it. Don't get me wrong, I dig all the stuff that comes with a traditional band -- the flailing, screaming, hair thrashing, sweaty banter, etc. -- but it relies upon a distinct audience / band relationship. They're on stage; we're on the floor (or on chairs, tables, barstools). But, along the lines of Brian Eno, Sedan not only offers us a highly individual experience where we can lose ourselves for extended moments but also forces us to share that experience with a host of people.
Like a fun house, Scott leads us through mirrored and off-balanced hallways, smoky rooms, and spontaneous leaps, while we hear the laughter and shrieks echo on the other side of the wall. With that, we welcome Sedan, and invite you to come out and play this August. Bring your cotton candy, your caramel apples, your fried dough. Sedan will be there waiting.
(this video features Sedan's old drummer. Scott will be flying solo for Total Fest, but he promises that the set will still be killer)
1 comment:
Sedan = intricate soundtrack to that place unnameable, behind the mind, deep in the folds. I see so many landscapes (split is nice compliment to Thrones). It's heavy in a backwards way, pulls you inside out. People need to get with this, the best Sedan tracks are genius.
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