Falling Up (band)

Falling Up is an American experimental rock band from Albany, Oregon. Falling Up formed in October 2001,^[1] and released their debut album called Crashings in 2004. They were signed to BEC Recordings until 2010 when they went independent. The band's name is derived from the first song they wrote, which refers to how imperfect people are, but how sufficient the grace of God is to compensate for it. In harmony with their name, their lyrics are heavily grace-themed.

As well as going through several different band line-ups, Falling Up has gone through several transformations in terms of musical style mainly due to a constantly changing line-up, in which certain members who played instruments on previous albums left the band. For example, after the release of the band's debut album, Andrew Wadlow, the original turntablist, left the band, which caused them to morph into a more electronic rock sound with the welcome of keyboardist Adam Taylor (who did not play turntables). With their debut, Crashings, the band introduced a nu metal-influenced style with raprock elements they referred to as "core-rock".^[2] This style was also kept on the band's second album, Dawn Escapes, although it included more experimental rock influences and greater usage of strings and keyboards. Later on, Falling Up moved more in the direction of melodic rock, and experimented with electronic and synthetic music, which gradually morphed into an overall experimental rock sound. Currently, Falling Up describes their style as experimental rock, Ambient pop^[3] and Indie rock.^[4] At the release of the band's final album, lead singer Jessy Ribordy, bassist Jeremy Miller and drummer Josh Shroy were the only members to have recorded on every album.

History

Crashings and Dawn Escapes (2004–06)

Falling Up debuted on February 24, 2004 with their 12-track album, Crashings. Produced by Aaron Sprinkle. Crashings sold 3,396 units in its first week, which exceeded first-week sales by any other album in the history of BEC Recordings—incidentally, that record had been previously held by Kutless, who are friends of Falling Up from childhood. Crashings sold over 50,000 units by the end of 2004. Three songs from Crashings—"Broken Heart," "Escalates," and "Bittersweet"—all reached No. 1 on the Christian rock charts at R&R.

Their second album, Dawn Escapes, was released on October 25, 2005 through BEC Recordings. Produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette (Chevelle, Cold), the album, though more melodic and hard rock-driven as a whole, did not majorly deviate from the sound of Crashings. Dawn Escapes pushed Falling Up's lifetime record sales to over 150,000 by the summer of 2006. Guitarist Tom Cox left the band shortly before the album's release, eventually going on to form his own band, Archers Rise, whose debut release was produced by Ribordy.

Falling Up performing live in-concert

On September 12, 2006, Falling Up released Exit Lights, an album featuring remixes of the band's biggest hits and the new song "Islander." Solomon Olds of Family Force 5, Thousand Foot Krutch's Trevor McNevan, and Randy Torres of Project 86 fame were among the artists who worked with Falling Up for the project. Guitarist Joseph Kisselburgh left the band in May 2006 to focus on his solo project, The Send, which released its debut album on Tooth & Nail Records in July 2007.

Captiva and Fangs! (2007–09)

On the band's Myspace page, they announced the release date for their project, which was code-named "Abandoners." Later on, they announced the release name Captiva. The album was released on October 2, 2007. The first single from this album is "Hotel Aquarium," which can be heard on the band's PureVolume and Myspace page, or purchased on iTunes. The band later also posted their second single "Goodnight Gravity" on PureVolume, followed by "How They Made Cameras," "Maps," and "A Guide to Marine Life." They subsequently finished filming a music video for "Hotel Aquarium," which was featured in X 2008. After the release of Captiva, Guitarist Micah Sannan departed Falling Up and joined the Christian hard rock band Disciple.^[5] The keyboardist Adam Taylor also departed in 2007, who then started managing the merchandise for Christian rock band Hawk Nelson.^[6]

Falling Up's fourth studio album, entitled Fangs, was released March 24, 2009. According to their MySpace page, Fangs was to be their "heaviest album yet", something which was often disputed in the post-release period. It was also said that the album would be "more of an arrangement than just a record that is put together randomly", as well as that that it "[would] not have 14 great songs in entirety, but just intriguing moments and sections." One of the song titles, "Lotus and Languorous" was released early. According to a BEC Recordings representative, a tour was supposed to coincide with the release.

In a blog entry, Falling Up's Jessy Ribordy announced that the band had completed the album entitled Fangs and that it would be about a "very, very, very fictional tale", including "a tiny bit of violence and some dramatic dialog." Jessy hired guitarists, keyboard players, and singers for the tour, and introduced them shortly.

According to BEC Recordings and Falling Up's Myspace, Falling Up headlined the Fangs! tour in late April early May 2009 with Tooth and Nail artist Ruth and Portland indie/rock artist Archeology. Unlike past tours, the venues were strictly secular clubs.

Side projects and hiatus (2009–10)

After the release of Fangs!, band members Jessy Ribordy and Josh Shroy started a side project under the name The River Empires, who created an album titled "Epilogue" with the help of The Dear Hunter's Casey Crescenzo, as well as a handful of other musicians. Jessy Ribordy also began working on a solo project titled The Gloomcatcher, with its first album being titled Slow Chorale. The debut albums from both projects were released on April 6, 2010.

It was announced on January 20, 2010 by lead vocalist Jessy Ribordy that Falling Up was "taking a permanent break", and their final show was at the Parachute Music Festival on January 29.^[7]

Independent reunion and Your Sparkling Death Cometh (2010–12)

On October 22, 2010, the band updated their MySpace page with information that new music is "in the works."^[8] The website FallingUpLives.com was then launched. Jessy explained on the website that the reason for the breakup was due to the band members wanted to explore other musical endeavors and the fact the BEC did not support the band's ideas for future releases. Jessy also said that some months after the breakup; the band members did not feel comfortable about ending Falling Up so abruptly, so they decided to return making music independently. The band has not stated what their plans are following the release of their new record, saying on their website, "all we know is that we are going to be putting out another album and we will just see where it goes from there."

On January 21, 2011, Falling Up's fundraiser for their new album had finished, and they received $13,665 which was above their goal of $10,000.^[9] The new record began recording on February 9, 2011, and Falling Up's singer Jessy Ribordy said that the album will be released in June 2011. On March 18, 2011, the official website was updated with a logo displaying Your Sparkling Death Cometh, coming June 2011. Shortly after, the band confirmed on their Facebook page that this is the title for the upcoming album. One of the KickStarter rewards for funding Your Sparkling Death Cometh was an exclusive download of two of Falling Up's demo songs. The songs that were released were titled "Phantasm" and "Monster Blood," both of which were tracks cut from their "Captiva" album.

On May 25, 2011, Falling Up released their first single from their upcoming album, titled "Blue Ghost" on their ReverbNation page. On June 1, 2011, Falling Up released their second single from their upcoming album, titled "Diamnds" also on their ReverbNation page. The two singles were generally well-received, with "Diamnds" being in the Top 20 most requested songs on ChristianRock.net during its first week.^[10] Although not officially released until June 28, Your Sparkling Death Cometh was reporting as arriving to those who had pre-ordered the album as early as June 23.^[11] WhenYour Sparkling Death Cometh was released on June 28, 2011, the album generally received very favorable reviews from critics. It was cited as being exceptionally creative, with a strong focus on originality and composure. Jesus Freak Hideout gave the album five out of five possible stars,^[12] as did New Release Tuesday.^[13] CM Addict gave it a slightly lower score of 8.5/10, citing that a couple of tracks "are just so-so."^[14]

The same day as Your Sparkling Death Cometh's release, Falling Up updated their website to fit with the theme of the album. A player was also added, allowing each track from Your Sparkling Death Cometh to be played in its entirety. Prior to the album's release, it was stated several times by the band members that this would likely be Falling Up's last project, but that it may be dependent on the reception of what was to be Your Sparkling Death Cometh. With the album's release, they added a biography section to their website which implied that they are hoping to continue Falling Up, even 10 years after its inception.^[15]

On December 9, 2011, Falling Up released a remixed version of "Blue Ghost," entitled "Blue Ghost Quadra Remix."

Following the release of Your Sparkling Death Cometh, Falling Up played their first live show since the Fangs! tour three years prior at the Hawthorne Theatre in Portland, Oregon on January 7, 2012. The band was opened up for by both Ruth and Water & Bodies.^[16]

Falling Up stated in early January 2012 that a remix EP was in the works, and they also said that they were hoping to have some new music released by the end of 2012.

On April 11, 2012, Falling Up released their first remix album since Exit Lights, titled Mnemos.

Mnemos contained seven tracks on its own, and there were also three bonus tracks added when the album reached 1,000 downloads. The tracks found on the album were not full remixes, but repetitions of hooks found in the various sections of their "Your Sparkling Death Cometh" album. At the time of Mnemos' release, Falling Up was only able to remix songs from that prior album, due to BEC holding the rights to their previous songs.

The Mnemos EP was released through Groupees along with a program called "Feed Them with Music," a charity which provides a meal for a needy family for every download. All of Falling Up's profits from the EP were donated to this program. Within the first 24 hours of the album's release there were over 1,500 downloads.

Machine De Ella and self-titled (2012–present)

Falling Up's next project was teased as The Machine De Ella project. The project was eventually revealed to consist of two albums, Hours and Midnight on Earthship, as well as an audio book, also titled Hours, written by Jessy Ribordy. The idea for the project came when the band realized that they had two different fanbases. Hours was recorded as a concept album based on the book within the project, and was more rock-driven. Midnight on Earthship was recorded with a sound and lyrics more along the lines of their Christian roots, with its songs being more faith-based.^[17] Both of the albums and the book began their launch on October 9, 2012, and were progressively released over the course of three months.^[18]

In August 2014, Falling Up initiated a Kickstarter fundraiser for their tenth full-length album, to be released in October 2015, that raised over $48,000, exceeding the $40,000 goal.^[19] According to the band's website, this will be the group's final album.^[20]

An instrumental companion EP, House Full of Caverns, was released on June 30, 2015. "Fathomms", the EP's final track is the only one to feature vocalized lyrics. The first single from their self-titled final album, "In the Woodshop", was released to iTunes in late September. The album was released on November 13, 2015,^[21] to which it received critical acclaim from multiple media outlets.^[22][23]

Members

Former

• Jessy C. Ribordy – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, programming, electronics (2002–2015)
• Jeremy Miller – bass, keyboards (2002–2015)
• Josh Shroy – drums (2002–2015)
• Nick Lambert – guitars (2012–2015)
• Tom Cox – lead guitar, backing vocals (2002–2005) (now in "Archers Rise")
• Joseph A. Kisselburgh – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2002–2006) (Now in "The Send")
• Michael Humphrey (DJ Wax Wizard) – turntables, keyboards, synthesizers, programming, electronics (2003–2005)
• Micah Sannan – lead guitar (2005–2007) (now in "Disciple")
• Adam Taylor – keyboards, synthesizers, programming, electronics (2005–2007) (now in "Philadelphia")
• Andrew "A-Dub" Wadlow – turntables, keyboards, synthesizers, programming, electronics (2002–2003)

Touring musicians

• Daniel Elder – lead guitar (2008–2015)
• Daniel Huddleston – lead guitar (2007–2010)
• Nick Lambert – lead guitar (2011–2015)

Discography

Videos

• "Escalates" (Crashings) -2004
• "Broken Heart" (Crashings) -2004
• "Moonlit" (Dawn Escapes) -2005
• "Hotel Aquarium" (Captiva) -2008
• "In the Woodshop" (Falling Up) -2015

References

External links

• Official website
• Falling Up on New Release Tuesday
• Archive of Falling Up's Original Website