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 The
Books
TThe Books came into being
in 2000, when Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong met through
a friend while they happened to be living in the same
apartment building in New York City. Although they were
from vastly different backgrounds, they quickly recognized
their shared love of acoustic playing and found sound,
and immediately began pooling their resources. Fuelled
by their personal collections of samples and home recordings,
and driven by a somewhat odd sense of humour, their
first tracks naturally emerged in the organic-collage
style that has defined their sound ever since. When
Tom Steinle heard The Books first musical efforts he
urged them to make a full-length release for his Cologne
based label, Tomlab, and their first record "Thought
for Food" was subsequently released in the summer
of 2002. With both members moving around a lot over
the two years of its composition, the band kept in touch
through mailed CDR's, telephone and occasional visits.
It wasn't until Zammuto temporarily settled down as
an assistant inn-keeper in Hot Springs, NC that "Thought
for Food" was finally finished in the freezing
cold basement of Elmer's Inn. It was also at Elmer's
Inn where The Books met good friend and occasional collaborator,
Anne Doerner. Encouraged by the unexpected success of
their first album, de Jong and Zammuto relocated their
piecemeal studio into the freezing cold pantry of a
rickety apartment in North Adams, MA, where they composed
their second album "The Lemon of Pink", which
was released by Tomlab in the fall of 2003. In conjunction
with their sonic work, they began to develop a library
of images and videos, which became the subject of their
website launched with the release of "The Lemon
of Pink". Over the winter of 2004, The Books began
work on their third record "Lost and Safe",
this time relocating to a relatively warm bedroom in
an old Victorian house in North Adams, MA. Departing
somewhat from the 'folktronica' sound that they pioneered
with their first two records, "Lost and Safe"
incorporates a new set of instrumental sounds and treatments,
including vintage clavinet, as well as homemade electro-acoustic
sound sculptures made from drain pipes, filing cabinets,
and circular metal plates, etcetera. Samples are carefully
integrated with original lyrics to create a song-based
record that seamlessly expands The Books' sound into
even more unexpected realms.
Links
www.thebooksmusic.com
www.tomlab.de
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