Independent Record Label | Est. 2009
Wilmington, North Carolina

 
 

EVENT CALENDAR

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

OUT NOW: Sean Thomas Gerard 'Finally Found a Paradise' [Digital LP]

Available now on all digital music download and streaming platforms, Sean Thomas Gerard's sophomore solo album Finally Found a Paradise is officially out today: Tuesday, March 30th!  Receive a *BONUS TRACK* when you download the album through Bandcamp, by printing out the Black & White artwork [PDF] included to make and share your own version of the album cover! 
Original artwork by Chris Frisina, of Sleepy Cat Records.


Monday, March 29, 2021

Naïm Amor - Au Large De Tes Bras (Live Acoustic Performance)

Watch Naïm Amor (acoustic guitar) and Ben Nisbet (violin) perform "Au Large De Tes Bras" from the album Hear the Walls [FLR014]: 

Saturday, March 27, 2021

Fort Lowell Records welcomes Soda Sun

Please allow us to introduce you to Soda Sun from Tucson, Arizona: John Goraj, Derek Cerretani, Johny Vargas, and David Foley. Fort Lowell Records is very excited to share with you that we will be releasing Soda Sun's debut album Stay Here on July 1, 2021, plus a series of singles leading up to then. For now, follow Soda Sun on Instagram or Facebook and stay tuned to learn more about our favorite new band from our favorite city west of the Mississippi River!

Friday, March 26, 2021

Happy Birthday to Travis Taylor of Hey Mandible!

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Wilmington musician Sean Thomas Gerard finds 'Paradise' on dreamy new rock album

[Repost from StarNews Online; by John Staton, March 23, 2021]

A dozen years ago, Sean Thomas Gerard burst on to the Wilmington music scene with folk-rock outfit Onward, Soldiers, winning fans with such sharply written rockers as "Cinder Blocks" and, later, dreamy ballads including "Gentle Man."

Now an elder statesman of the local scene at just 33, Gerard is preparing to release his second full-length solo album. "Finally Found a Paradise" -- a textured, nuanced expression of domestic bliss -- comes out March 30 on Wilmington-based label Fort Lowell Records.

"I used to struggle to write happy songs. I wanted to write happy songs," Gerard said during a phone interview. "I'm happier with myself now, with my life. Having a kid gave me purpose."

That kid would be Jovie, his daughter with wife Heather. Gerard's fans met his now-20-month-old daughter a year ago in a song he named for her. "Jovie" comes off like a lushly melodic ray of sunshine, and it serves as a touchstone of sorts on "Finally Found a Paradise."

The song "Loser" -- about a former friend who fell from Gerard's good graces -- is the only one of the album's eight tunes to carry anything like a discontented edge. The rest are warm and fuzzy in the best possible way, smile-inducingly potent expressions of love and happiness.

"This record has got to be my most personal," Gerard said. "It's just a reflection of where I am in my life. I used to write about a lot of darker subjects. I was in a darker place ... If I start to write dark songs again, maybe come check on me."

In the hands of someone less eloquent, domestic bliss could sound cliche or even cheesy. On "Finally Found a Paradise," however, Gerard renders moments in ways that are both poetic and profound, paired with a sound that lilts along dreamily, like thoughts that are walking on air.

Speaking of which -- the song "Walking on Air" has a lazily bouncy Beatles feel with lyrics about finding that missing puzzle piece. "Strange & Electrifying," while less twangy than some of Gerard's output with Onward, Soldiers, maintains an arena-worthy pop-rock vibe, with an anthemic chorus and lyrics that are less than straightforward but that conjure the picture of a rewarding relationship.

Gerard, who grew up in Pittsburgh, said his lyrics used to be "more vague. I thought that was cool or something."

Now, he's found a way to deliver meaning without being too obvious about it, an approach that works with the upbeat yet cool rock sound displayed throughout "Finally Found a Paradise."

"My stuff in the past has been a little more all over the place" sound-wise, Gerard said. "I wanted something that tied together," which led to the keyboard-heavy approach he uses on much of the new album.

It's a sound that can fit in with, and is made from, any number of genres, from folk and rock to pop and plenty of blue-eyed soul.

Making appearances on the album are Wilmington's "one-take wonder," Bob Russell, on pedal steel, and Gerard's childhood friend Kim Greenwood, who Gerard calls one of the best technical guitarists he's ever known.

No release show for the album is planned yet, but Gerard said he'd like to give the record a proper celebration in a live setting later this year if possible.

"I thinking maybe something outdoors," he said.



Saturday, March 20, 2021

Win a 'GROW' Signed Test Pressing + Custom Made HeyTVM T-Shirt

Our friends at Gravity Records are hosting a special raffle this weekend -- Saturday-Sunday, March 20-21, 2021 -- to win one-of-nine extremely rare 'Signed' copies of the Test Pressing for our album GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter; signed by every musician + visual artist involved with GROW.  In addition, artist HeyTVM has made a very limited edit GROW t-shirt that will also included in the raffle with the Test Pressing; they will custom printed to each winner's unique size.  The raffle only costs $5.00 per ticket to enter, and you enter as many times as you want.  Just like all sales from GROW, 100% of the money raised from Gravity Records' raffle this weekend will be donated entirely to the North Carolina New Hanover County NAACP to help ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination in our community.

A test pressing is what you might expect it to be from its name: a vinyl record made to test the quality of the finished product before pressing thousands of records. Test pressings are made to ensure that the grooves themselves are clean, deep enough, and formed correctly when the master presses into the vinyl blank; that the grooves, label and center hole are not off-center; that the vinyl does not warp; things like that. Test pressings are supposed to be destroyed, and most of them are.  

These are literally the FIRST nine copies of GROW that were ever produced, and now is your chance to own one of them... signed by every single member of all (12) bands that are a part of GROW, plus Cover Artist James L. Williams, B-Side Artist and professional skateboard Chet Childress, as well as HeyTVM -- who not only designed the t-shirt for this raffle, but also provided the artwork for the back of the GROW vinyl jacket AND (and) is responsible for coming up with the name "GROW" for the title of the project.

GO TO GRAVITY RECORDS' INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT NOW TO ENTER!  

Don't wait, the raffle closes Sunday PM, and winners will be announced on Monday!

Friday, March 19, 2021

Sean Thomas Gerard "Sail off in the Sunset" Digital Single, OUT NOW!

Sean Thomas Gerard's new single "Sail off in the Sunset" is out now on all digital music platforms!

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Sean Thomas Gerard "Sail off in the Sunset" Video Premiere

If you haven’t heard of or seen Sean Thomas Gerard, you are robbing yourself of perhaps one of the more talented musicians in the indie game right now.  
I had to get that out of the way. I am big on blunt and often superlative language when I am excited about an artist, music or film. It’s the verbal equivalent of getting chills …while also getting chills.  
“Sail off in the Sunset” is easily one of those moments. It should comfortably  become the song of the summer. As a filmmaker, I have a deep appreciation for the true artistry in regard to music and conveying that via visual medium. Music videos are, for all intent and purposes, a dying form of musical expression. It seems like forever ago, when MTV, The Box and other channels that existed in the time of Napster, that music videos were the main form of expression.  
Sean Thomas Gerard’s almost ethereal beach feel and look made me immediately excited but also reminded me of those days. The super 8 like feel and coloring along with the song makes it, in my eyes, the theme song of a post pandemic summer that will exemplify an appreciation for the season that, at least in part, was taken away from coastlines here to SoCal.  
The silky vocal stylings of STG set to the visual of people frolicking along the pristine coastline and in the vast ocean will leave listeners sprinting to the beach, begging for ill placed sand in their shoes that never ends and sunburns.  
Below is the actual video directed by STG himself. Enjoy.