the gifted children - our sporting lives

Release date: July 3, 2012

musically, the gifted children children are still keeping things interesting and richly textured while sticking with their short-and-sweet formula. the title tracks begins with a psychedelic swell of backwards guitars, droning keyboards and slide bass, reaching its peak with a short and catchy verse-chorus led by acoustic guitars and double-tracked voices. next up is harbinger ebbward, which starts with acoustic guitars and keyboards, then drops into a simple keyboard/voice verse before blowing up again into a classic gifted children coda, complete with drum loops, noisy keyboards and melodic saxophones. the closing track is a quieter, piano-led song which sees some noisy keyboards slowly overtaking the plaintive vocals. in all, this is a short (less than 6 minutes long!) EP that refines the recent sound of the band, while still managing to add a few new tricks.

Credits:
brett dreyer - tenor saxophones on 2
justin sheehan - piano on 3
jeff suszczynski - keyboards on 1-3; guitars on 1-3; voices on 1-3; loops on 2; shakers on 3
bill trautman - electric and slide bass on 1

1 & 2 by jeff suszczynski
3 by jeff suszczynski/justin sheehan
written, recorded, mixed and mastered june 2012 at badd wallpaper (rochester, ny).
layout and design by brett dreyer
collages by jeff suszczynski

Lyrics and individual track credits:

01 our sporting lives

cumulus come home
stay close and outhuddle the others
smoke out the fringe to keep them at bay

17000 disastrous occasions
averted by fuel called cliche
nothing should take us from smalltalk intentions
our sporting lives will always remain

jeff suszczynski - keyboards, guitars, voices
bill trautman - electric and slide bass

02 harbinger ebbward

when everything was newer we were bored
we didn't cling to anything
now that we find it hard to remember clearly
we want to subside and crystallize those dim light moments
and bring it all back

brett dreyer - tenor saxophones
jeff suszczynski - acoustic guitars, keyboards, voices, loops

03 the incumbent worst case

you spent your last $300
to take a bus and a train
just to see him again

now you're crying on the phone
because you were just told
that he's gone from the city you're traveling to

you spent your last $300
to take a bus and a train
just to see him again

justin sheehan - piano
jeff suszczynski - keyboards, acoustic guitars, shaker, voices