for your home or office cdep
Park Avenue Music’s For Your Home or Office EP (Clairecords) might be the most brilliant release that neither Lamb nor Björk herself were involved in. Equal parts human croon and laptop pop come together and collide in an explosion that guarantees to rock your every synapse. The pinnacle is “Golden Hummingbird”, a song that will make you wonder why the Icelandic princess isn’t working with this group instead of Matmos.

reviewed by: Jack Alberson for FAC193

PARK AVENUE MUSIC is a Sacramento-based duo who mine an experimental electronic-pop territory similar to artists like BJORK or MUM, with glitchy skittering beats and seductively manipulated female vocals. Cuts like 'Golden Hummingbird' could be AUTECHRE colliding with the COCTEAU TWINS or SIGUR ROS in an alternate universe. And the other 5 tracks here are equally as poignant and unique. There's a beautifully sad sort of air to the proceedings, but PARK AVENUE MUSIC prove a sense of humour in 'How's Your 401k?'. A superb and incomparable release that has me anxious to hear more

reviewed by: Godsend Online

This 6-song EP brings the beautiful combination of Jeannette Faith's sweet voice and husband Wes Steed's software manipulations. The glitchy, yet melodic slow tempo music, combined with female singing reminds a bit of Björk in some of her most recent work.

reviewed by: IMPACT Press

Lovely glitchy electronic pop music by the Sacramento husband and wife team of Wes Steed and Jeannette Faith, making some beguilingly cool cool shapes and forms on this sumptuous six song EP. Shimmering melodic pulsings and slivers of sound back up the girlishly delicate vocalizations of Jeannette. Recalling Björk at her most airy, or a slightly more earthly Portishead.

reviewed by: George Parsons for Dream Magazine

Glitchy electronic music about the problems people face in a modern society from a husband and wife team sounds frighteningly close to a Will Ferrell-based SNL skit, but this new EP fits that description, and the results are ripe for absorption. Keyboards and vocals by Jeannette Faith are the base, and then Wes Steed takes it to a whole other level with computers and homemade synths, resulting in a sound that is not just songs, it's a whole atmosphere. The techniques are used to great effect in creating a feeling of absolute detachment, like a dependence on computers for everything in life just so it doesn't require effort. The titles could be articles in Reader's Digest or some corporate pamphlet, and as such they belie the elegance of what's inside. When sounds escape the speakers, though, the mood is realized immediately, and an almost menial state of mind takes shape, like drone-esque office work. Troubadours used to sing about the struggle of the working man - farmers, mechanics, factory workers -in angry tones meant to seize attention and change perceptions. This music is about the new under-appreciated or endangered species due to workload or stress at work or at home: the desk jockey. Rather than knock people out with brute force, this is a coaxing way of encouraging results. This is a new step for the duo, since their last album did not deal with themes anywhere near this, but they are perfectly suited to the task. Lyrics like "how many red eyes have you taken?" and "home is where the heart breaks" float out on Faith's processed voice, immediately cutting in and burrowing for a long stay. This is a bubbly and cheery-sounding record on the surface, but beneath it there is pain and longing. I couldn't stop listening, and it is now the preferred soundtrack for my mundane day job existence. Maybe I'll find the hidden message and escape, and I think that's exactly what these songs are meant to persuade the listener towards.

reviewed by: Rob Devlin for Brainwashed

Park Avenue Music is the husband and wife team of Wes Steed and Jeannette Faith. Their music sounds something like a cross between Ivy and [The Books'] "The Lemon of Pink". If that sounds strange...indeed it is. For Your Home or Office is a surprisingly weird spin. Steed and Faith could easily be creating music to please the masses...but instead they are opting to record and release music that will most definitely only reach a very small and select group of people (applause!). Thank God everyone isn't in the game of life for the money. This EP begins with the super strange sounds of "Cutter" ...a really odd tune that combines super smooth and serene sounds with clicks and pops that sound like something has gone terribly wrong with your CD player. The vocals on this one are particularly peculiar. The remainder of the EP isn't any more familiar or accessible. Good reference points are "The Mellow One" or "How's Your 401K?" We love it when artists demand our attention...and these folks truly do. Another great release from a superb li'l duo. Highly recommended. (Rating: 5+++)

reviewed by: Babysue LMNOP Reviews

Sacramento-based husband and wife team Wes Steed and Jeannette Faith (aka Park Avenue Music) produce alluring laptop pop that does, in fact, sound equally fine at your home or office. In spite of its half-hour length, there's no modicum of musical detail in these six charming pieces which contrast the inviting warmth of Faith's girlish vocals with Steed's glitchy backings. Her vocals are often free floating, suggesting she's hypnotically channeling spirits (the dreamy, child-like murmurs in “Cutter”), and sometimes heavily distorted (“The Mellow One” and “The Modern Guide,” where her singing seems to emerge from some underground funnel) which can be alienating when pushed too far; in “Golden Hummingbird,” for example, the warping treatments make her voice sound drunkenly woozy, undercutting its emotional impact. Emphasizing elegant piano themes, gentle Rhodes sprinkles, and clicking beats, the songs unfurl in becalmed and stately manner, with the staccato plucks and backward phasing effects in “How's Your 401k?” and the idyllic minimalist bridge in “Golden Hummingbird” two highlights of many. Like much melodic electronic music, a strain of melancholy seeps through the songs' pristine grooves and soothing melodies (further reinforced by lyrics like “Home is where the heart breaks” in “The Modern Guide”). Reminiscent of Caney and Joory's aptly titled Magic Radios and just as mesmerizing, “Betrwayx,” all melancholy tones and meditative piano ripples, may be a difficult title to utter but as an album closer, it's almost unbearably lovely.

reviewed by: Textura

Most of the releases that I've heard thusfar on the Clairecords label have at least had one foot in the shoegazer/dreampop pool, and it's because of that that this newest EP (their second release overall) by Park Avenue Music caught me off guard. Highly melodic and slightly glitchy, it reminds me more of something that I might find on the Morr Music or Audio Dregs label. Mixing very nice programming of lush electronics with soft, breathy female vocals, it manages to sound somewhat like several different things (one could reference Mum, Bjork, and others), without really sounding too much like anyone.

With 6 tracks that stretch over a half hour, this is a shorter release that still takes its time in getting places. The first two tracks of "Cutter" and "The Mellow One" both meander along with warm pads of lazy electronic strokes while the vocals of Jeanette Faith softly float over as beats occasionally spray out and thump. The latter track takes things a bit higher as Faith's vocals get run through a serious filter, rendering them seriously lo-fi and distorted during the final build.

While "Golden Hummingbird" willfully chops and glitches out the vocals until they're pretty much incomprehensible, there are other moments on the disc that feel like just about the perfect balance of electronic tomfoolery and pop sensibility. "How's Your 401k?" brings in another stuttering chunky beat and flutters soft guitar and a backwards melody behind warm vocals by Faith that are a bit on the silly side but work quite well. Limited to 750 copies, this is another little gem of an EP from Clairecords (like their also-excellent limited EP by Mahogany). If you're into melodic, pop-tinged electronic music at all, seek it out.

reviewed by: almostcool.org

One of the highlights of California label Dream by Degrees’ stellar Blue compilation was a track by husband and wife team Park Avenue Music. Their song, entitled “Sun, So Bright”, showcased a beautifully sublime melody, sung by an accomplished female singer, over a bed of strange down-tempo electronic noises. Somehow, Park Avenue Music was able to convey a sophisticated blend of modern electronic slowcore music with an almost jazzy feel. Combined with Park Avenue Music member Wes Steed’s deconstructive remix of Sappington’s “Airtight” on Summer, “Sun So Bright” demonstrates Park Avenue Music’s talent for combining experimental instrumentation with lovely songs.

And Park Avenue Music does not disappoint with their long-awaited EP release, For Your Home or Office, on Clairecords. Featuring 6 tracks of music that spans over 30 minutes, For Your Home or Officeis an engaging collection of odd electronic noises that cradle soothing melodies. “Cutter” starts of the EP with a subtly building keyboard loop that is supported by a flourishing piano line and a stuttering drum machine beat. After over two and a half minutes of the improvisational sounding music, Jeannette Faith’s jazzy, distorted vocals surface, immediately giving the song structure and a longing feel. Following this song is the emotional “The Mellow One”, in which Faith’s vocals immediately emerge, buoyed by the delicate keyboards of Steed. “The Mellow One”, at times sounding like a tender ballad for the 21st Century, builds with tension with the ever-quivering instrumentation and euphoric vocals. After listening to this song, one cannot help but be impressed with Faith’s ability to belt out notes with confidence and passion, even as her vocals are buried under a mountain of effects. “Golden Hummingbird” is another exquisite example of Park Avenue Music’s ability to combine a sense of musicality in songwriting with electronic experimentation that adds to the songs. Again, Faith’s vocals are distorted and sampled (a la Radiohead’s “Everything in its Right Place), as a host of throwaway electronic sounds and beats give the song a forward progression. Unlike Radiohead, though, Park Avenue Music intriguingly convey a sense of warmth, and even human emotion, in the midst of the cold electronics and disembodied vocals. “Golden Hummingbird” fades into a minimalist interlude, only to reemerge as a fully-fleshed song in the outro, with sounds and a sonic appeal as accessible as the band’s Blue contribution. The remaining songs, “How’s Your 401K” with its strange beats and dissonant vocal melodies, “The Modern Guide” with its dark mood and heartbreaking lyrics (“home is where the heart breaks”), and the curiously-titled, mellow, and free-form sounding “Betrwax”, only add to the lure of For Your Home or Office.

On For Your Home or Office, Park Avenue Music offer a musical experience that is satisfying, haunting, and only vaguely accessible. The fascinating ability to convey a sentiment of human frailty and passion through the accomplished vocals of Faith, the warm melodies, and the tools of Steed’s cold, metallic electronics is one that sets Park Avenue Music apart from the host of electronic-based bands. For fans of: slowcore gobbled up by glitchy electronics, Sappington, Low, Film School, Kid A-era Radiohead, and experimental music in general will find comfort on For Your Home or Office. [4.5 stars]

reviewed by: Somewhere Cold