Mike Chambers Tag

Mothsounds cover art

Mothsounds Debut: New Shoegaze & Indie Rock Album from Phoenix

Mothsounds cover art

Mothsounds: A New Shoegaze Journey from Phoenix

It is new release day and I am proud to announce the arrival of Mothsounds! This self-titled debut brings nine new tracks of indie rock and shoegaze created by the talented trio of Mike Chambers, Jason Whitcomb, and Kevin Hartnell.

The album is now available for streaming on your favorite platforms. Take a dive into this sonic landscape and let us know what you think!

Critical Reception

The debut has already caught the ear of international press. IndieCriollo praised the album’s experimental nature and raw power:

“We start today’s charts with a doublet of mothsounds, who bring us a whole experimental universe in their music… finding these two songs is like seeing the curiosity of rock, and how it can unleash you with fury with nothing to leave behind. It is pure rock so that you feel and do not lose your mind, so untie it all.”

Track Highlight: “Beta Carotene”

One of the standout tracks mentioned in the review is “Beta Carotene.” It’s a track that takes you by surprise, demanding you jump into its world while catching your breath. Driven by propulsive percussion and the cryptic, catchy hook “Lemon lime twister,” it leans heavily into the band’s college rock influences.

Mothsounds Album Credits

All songs written by Mike Chambers & Jason Whitcomb.

Mothsounds is:

  • Mike Chambers: Guitars, bass, keys
  • Jason Whitcomb: Guitars, bass, keys, drum programming, vocals
  • Kevin Hartnell: Guitars, bass, keys, drums, percussion, backing vocals

Mixed by Kevin Hartnell | Mastered by Hector the Rat
Moth photo courtesy of Natasha Wright.

View Full Lyrics and Tracklist (Click to Expand) ▼

1. Son of the System

Son of the system / A child of war he cannot fight / A mother’s conviction / Try and escape he cannot hide
Open doorways and starlit sounds / As the looking glass fades / Opulence on this carousel of the beautiful ones / But something’s not right
Son of the system / A child of war he cannot fight / A father’s intentions / Poising everything in sight
One by one, as the air runs thin for the struggling fold / Two by tow as we take control of everything else / It’s starting to rise

2. Chain Link

Stop me before I get tired of the same situation / The cat’s out of the bag now / Downtown on the corner with another
Don’t speak it’s ok / I don’t think I want to hear this / Excuses come easy / I should I know / I’ve made quite a few of my own
Tell me if I should sit back while it falls out from under / Your footing unstable / Grab ahold of the sky as you’re falling / But next time remind me / Of the ways that I’m there when you / Don’t seem to need it / Looking down at the bottom of a barrel

3. Beta Carotene

Screaming at the statues on the lawn / Losing any sense of self control / Find myself alone and then / Television’s on the fritz again / We should just go throw it away
Lemon lime twister / Yeah I think I saw your sister last night / Out past a quarter to two / Beta Carotene wasteland / Now you’re off to the next move / Don’t you come down until we are through
Where have all the good times left and gone? / Wondering if they ever came around / Would I fall in love again with someone other than myself, my friend? / This life is just such a charade
Now you’re running to the wrong side of the ship cause you know it’s sinking / But no one else has a clue

4. Disentangled

Now that we’ve come this far / I don’t expect you’ll understand / I’ll leave it all behind / Forgetting just how sad it is / Then you get under my / Cold and thin contorted skin
And all / All I hear / Is the silence you bring / I’ll find some sense / And I’ll wait for you to change
A loaded mouth of lies / Twisted tongue and serpent’s smile / You slither by and by / I sit alone and wonder why / No comfort I have found / In watching you consume my mind.

5. Photos of the Ghost

Your moves are fine / It’s all we do to keep it in place / Hanging out for now / Truth is I’m mortified / By your grace it seems
Your thoughts are mine / A stoic figure enters my mind / Who does she want now? / Changes like the weather / And clouds are blowing in
When should I just let it go? / Let it end in silence / Ask yourself would you look back / Or would you run for your life?
Unglued, but I / See the pieces fall into place / Nausea is mine / I cannot stomach all we’ve become / And all that we’ve made

6. Dark Army

Let us in your silver lining / Leaves you trembling on the floor
Now I can’t feel you / My limbs are numb / We’re innocent here / We are innocent here / Now I can’t see you / My eyes are blind / We’re innocent here
Half lit pathways open on / Promises of what we’ve done / Broken pages of your story / One that no one lives to tell

7. Edit

I’ll surrender myself / I’ll lay my hand facedown / Stripped of all that controls me / Can’t save you from yourself / Innocence is over / At least that’s what we’re told
The countdown / It’s starting / Change is bound to come / They beg us / To feed them / Always wanting more / The chants are / Still calling / Slowly drowning out / An answer to all / The questions are left out
Broken down and beaten / We pull ourselves back up / Raise a fist in anger / Then watch it fall back down / Ours is not to question / Just fall back into line

8. Slip

Who am I to tell you that your mediocre life is tainted? / You’ll find out someday I know / Maybe I should clear my head and the way I see you clouded in my far too empty mind
I miss all the finer things we know / When I come down to the excuses we’ve made / I’ll forget all our troubles and we’ll make some
Who are you to listen to my every word I’m speaking softly / So you can’t hear what I say / Maybe I should scream my lungs out and blow away what you’ve accepted in your warm embrace

9. All That We Have Lost

Distant voices / Slowly fade away / Is anyone out there? / Who hears the same thing? / We are never going back
This is not what I’m here for / Shouldn’t shock you / Don’t need words to show you how I feel about you / Tell yourself that it’s alright / But don’t look in the mirror / You might not like who’s looking back / Wash away denial
Is she lost? / Or is she waiting? / For someone who’ll make a change

#IndieRock #Shoegaze #PhoenixMusic #Mothsounds #NewMusic

Dronefly EP cover art

Dronefly EP: Debut Dream Pop Release on Overlook Hotel Records

Dronefly EP cover art

Dronefly EP Released on Overlook Hotel Records

Overlook Hotel Records is proud to announce the release of the self-titled debut EP from Dronefly.

Overlook Hotel Records has released the very first EP from dream pop/shoegaze/indie rock trio Dronefly! The 4-track EP features subtle and sublime guitar textures with vocals ranging from delicate to majestic to create a highly dynamic listening experience.

The project features the collaborative talents of Mike Chambers (Guitars, Bass, Keyboards), Deanna Quijada (Vocals, Lyrics), and myself, Kevin Hartnell (Drums, Percussion, Synths). Together, we have aimed to create a soundscape that fans of 4AD, FatCat, Slumberland Records, and highly melodic atmospheric music will find right at home in their music collections.

Early Reviews & Reception

We are thrilled to see the EP already garnering positive attention from music blogs.

Eric from NoObject writes:
“SPACE. Not outer space. Not the space bar. But SPACE. It’s the space between chords, between drum hits and between vocal lines that makes “Closer” an incredible opener. A soft harmonic ringing carries me from section to section. Playing to the strengths of shoegaze as a genre, the track gives off a smooth weighted feeling… Dronefly is a very polished EP. There’s no sharp corners or excessive noise. But its exactly this neatness that makes me want more…”

Samantha from TheEqualGround says:
“All four of the songs on Dronefly’s album evoke a different vibe but they all so brilliantly coexist. This, to me, is a sure sign of a band that has potential.”

Stream the Dronefly EP

The EP is available now for free streaming or download.

Spotify:

Bandcamp:

Tracklist & Credits

Tracklist:

  1. Closer (04:18)
  2. Doldrums (03:18)
  3. Joysticks (03:42)
  4. Forever Light (04:43)

Album Credits:
All songs written by Dronefly. Produced by Kevin Hartnell and Dronefly.

  • Mike Chambers: Guitars, Bass, Keyboards
  • Deanna Quijada: Vocals, Lyrics
  • Kevin Hartnell: Drums, Percussion, Mellotron, Synths, Guitars, Bass

Mixed by Kevin Hartnell and mastered by Hector the Rat at the Overlook Hotel. Artwork and design by Hector the Rat for Overlook Hotel Records.

Lyrics: “Closer”

On planet where I / First encountered your kind
Where fingers beam and ripples burn / For a whisper of sky
Contemplating your eyes / Could you transmit to my world?
Distant beam of cooling light

I’ll bring you closer / I’ll bring you closer
I’ll bring you close / Close / Close

On the planet where I / First encountered your sigh
The sweetest aria / Was I calling your name
As you floated in space / Unaware of my cry?
Distant beam of cooling light

I’ll bring you closer / I’ll bring you closer
I’ll bring you close / So close now
You’ll share my every doubt / So close now

©2014 Overlook Hotel Records. Catalog R237-009.

Cambium - Let's Send a Signal cover art

Cambium: “Let’s Send A Signal” – Debut Album Review & Stream

Cambium - Let's Send a Signal cover art

Cambium: “Let’s Send A Signal”

Overlook Hotel Records presents the debut album from Cambium, a 14-track journey through “future retro” rock.

Overlook Hotel Records is proud to announce catalog item R237-006: Cambium – “Let’s Send A Signal”. Available now for free download, this album represents a massive collaborative effort created in our secret laboratory.

Vic Bonat, Jason Whitcomb, Mike Chambers, Mat Williams, and I spent a year writing, recording, mixing, and “throwing hammers around” in a grand effort to bring you something special.

What Does It Sound Like?

Do you like your rock with synths? Perhaps you prefer your synths with guitars. Maybe you are like me and enjoy a very diverse array of musical styles, sometimes across the same album, or even throughout the course of the same song.

I’ve heard the term “future retro” thrown out there to describe the sound, but I have no idea what that means! Press the play button below and decide for yourself.

Stream the Album

The album is available for streaming or download via Spotify and Bandcamp.

Tracklist

Tracklist:

  1. Let’s Send A Signal (03:47)
  2. Forward Eyes (04:53)
  3. Biloquist (02:58)
  4. Escape Pod 9 (05:42)
  5. Nothing Else (04:06)
  6. Someday Soon (05:37)
  7. Recycle (03:18)
  8. Distant (05:14)
  9. Flinch (04:03)
  10. Static (04:49)
  11. Aphid (04:55)
  12. Salton (03:52)
  13. Where The Oxygen Gets Thin (04:10)
  14. Salton (long version) (06:18)

Album Credits

All lyrics by Jason Whitcomb. All music by Cambium.

  • Jason Whitcomb: Vocals, Synths, Bass, Guitars, Drum Programming
  • Mike Chambers: Bass, Guitars, Synths, Drum Programming
  • Mat Williams: Guitars, Leads
  • Vic Bonat: Guitars, Bass, Synths
  • Kevin Hartnell: Drums, Bass, Guitars, Synths, Vocals, Drum Programming
  • Deanna Quijada: Backing vocals on “Flinch”

Produced by Kevin Hartnell & Cambium. Mixed by Kevin Hartnell and mastered by Hector Rat at the Overlook Hotel. Artwork and design by Hector the Rat for Overlook Hotel Records.

©2013 Overlook Hotel Records. Catalog R237-006.

Lyrics: “Let’s Send A Signal”

Chains on our arms / Masks on our faces
We cover it up / For nothing at all

Let’s send a signal out there / One that they can’t ignore
Let’s find some trouble worth making / We’ll hang our heads when it’s done

When nobody’s watching / You think you’re alone
Confide in yourself / But watch what you say
These words are like poison / As you feed us like rats
And watch as we die

(Chorus)

No second chance / A life in the balance
You’ve been here before / No stranger to you
Hopelessly lost / Just hang on so tightly
I won’t let you go / Until I’m done with your soul

(Chorus)