A bicycle crash left a young Sweeney with his jaw wired shut for six weeks, and in recovering, his sustenance was on an acoustic guitar. What was he chasing? Perhaps something in a progression that led to the acquisition of a Yamaha MT-50 4-track recorder, seclusion in empty piano rooms on the campus of UC Berkeley, and hosting cassette release parties in his co-op, all while logging enough California-psych gold on tape to get a stretch of Highway 1 named for him. Branching out from celebrated San Francisco bands VOWS & Montra for the release of his 2013 solo debut ‘Ether Ore’, Luke Sweeney swung out on a limb with a stripped-down approach that garnered blossoms of critical praise for its “distinctly handcrafted feel” and “melodies that feel like opiates for the soul” (SF Chronicle).
In 2014, a whole new sound has emerged from the troubadour's ever-spinning reels with 'Adventure:Us', a matchbox collection of electric psy...
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A bicycle crash left a young Sweeney with his jaw wired shut for six weeks, and in recovering, his sustenance was on an acoustic guitar. What was he chasing? Perhaps something in a progression that led to the acquisition of a Yamaha MT-50 4-track recorder, seclusion in empty piano rooms on the campus of UC Berkeley, and hosting cassette release parties in his co-op, all while logging enough California-psych gold on tape to get a stretch of Highway 1 named for him. Branching out from celebrated San Francisco bands VOWS & Montra for the release of his 2013 solo debut ‘Ether Ore’, Luke Sweeney swung out on a limb with a stripped-down approach that garnered blossoms of critical praise for its “distinctly handcrafted feel” and “melodies that feel like opiates for the soul” (SF Chronicle).
In 2014, a whole new sound has emerged from the troubadour's ever-spinning reels with 'Adventure:Us', a matchbox collection of electric psych-soul gems cut in Brooklyn with producer Robin MacMillan (Persephone's Bees, Shalants). BabySue named it a Top Pick, stating "Sweeney really seems to be following his own muse here. And, in doing so, manages to come up with some mighty entertaining tracks that are credible and real... this is one of those that will still sound great years from now."
Fresh from festival appearances at Noise Pop, Make Music Pasadena, and CMJ with a full cast of accomplished players, Sweeney's band is whipping up the vast spectrum of his songs into a magnetic force, drawing ears who hear something familiar yet mysteriously new, as if plucked from an Earth-like planet just barely detectable on our Doppler. It's a sound that is hard to come by, thrilling to chase, and comforting to know.
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