Terrene
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Terrene (2001-present) is a Seattle-based musical project fronted by songwriter John Dylan. Experimenting with lush soundscapes, guitar effects, samples, and pop structures, Terrene has featured a rotating lineup over the years with Dylan being the only constant. Terrene is currently a solo project for Dylan. Their first album, The Indifferent Universe was released on August 14th, 2007 on Wax Orchard records.
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[edit] Early Years (1990s-2001)
While living in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1990s, Dylan had put out a great deal of music in the cassette and CD-R underground, most notably in his solo project Kimaira, and in the 2-piece band Ocasek with Brad Rose (of Digitalis Industries, The North Sea, et al). Among Dylan's accomplishments as a solo artist during this time were becoming the subject of a 30-minute audio documentary for college radio (with the focus on his "D.I.Y." work-ethic), and having his music so widely distributed that Spin magazine named his song "Fifty-One" to be the Cool Track of the Day on June 30th, 2000.
In 2001, after a four-year hiatus from making music with Rose, and with Dylan now living in Seattle, Dylan and Rose reunited over the internet and formed Terrene as a long-distance musical collaboration, sending loops and sequence files back and forth to each other. After a few months of collaboration, Dylan flew down to Oklahoma to work with Rose on all the non-electronic musical elements. The effort resulted in a full-length CD-R entitled Sidereal that was used for demo purposes.
[edit] Terrene the Band (2002-2007)
In 2002, Dylan put out "musicians wanted" ads in local Seattle publication The Stranger and initially put together a group of five musicians, including Rose, who moved out to Seattle for a short time. After a Rose's departure and a few lineup changes, the band stabilized on four members and played in the Seattle scene, garnering local notoriety and radio play. The four members were John Dylan (Vocals, Guitar), Jimmy Gilbertson (Drums), Justin McVicker (Guitar) and Daniel Gould (bass). During this time, the band was rehearsing and recording rough demos in Gould's studio, Vent Studios.
In December 2003, the band completed a four-song demo at the home studio of Seattle musician Bobby Nath (Mars Accelerator), Sonic Halos. This demo, along with some tracks recorded at Vent, was sent to a few producers as a pitch to record a full-length record. Noted producer Phil Ek (Built to Spill, The Shins, Band of Horses) responded enthusiastically and booked them to record at local studios AVAST! and Jupiter.
Phil Ek's version of their first album, now with the title The Indifferent Universe, was mixed in February 2005 at AVAST! However, Dylan, who personally funded the recording of the record, found himself wanting to add more to the record that the time and budget had not allowed. While shopping the Ek mixes to labels, he went to work in his home studio, expanding and sometimes drastically rearranging the recordings, in an effort that lasted until March of 2007.
During this time, Dylan saw his bandmates dwindle in number from a peak of five (when then-girlfriend was on backup vocals) to to none. But the record had also found a home on Wax Orchard records, who released the album in August 2007 with the credits, "Produced by Phil Ek and John Dylan." Dylan now performs as Terrene solo.
[edit] Official Discography
The Indifferent Universe (2007, Wax Orchard Records)
- Fifty-One
- Andromeda
- Makr
- What We'll Never Be
- Stereo!
- "regret"
- Media Sift (Through Heart Rises)
- "enemy landlord"
- Unwelcome
- Fixed Up
- The Spirits on the Shelf
- "the indifferent universe"
- Mermaid (Lost At Sea)
