Sarah Slaton

In the last year, Denver's indie-folk trio Edison has been on a seemingly meteoric rise to the top of the local scene. The band started playing together in late 2014, after singer/guitarist Sarah Slaton met drummer and multi-instrumentalist Dustin Morris when she was opening on a tour with his previous band. After jamming together, they began performing as Edison. The snowball effect continued when the duo met guitarist Maxwell Hughes (formerly of the Lumineers) at SXSW. The rest, as they say, is history.

Stylistically, the band takes influences from rock, pop and folk acts of all kinds. Slaton says groups like Counting Crows and Death Cab for Cutie inform her songwriting. What comes out of Edison is a unique brand of folk that is as honest as it is catchy.

The band's first release came in 2015, in the form of the EP Ghosts, a four-track, melancholic tribute to Slaton's late mother. On this debut, Slaton shows her talents as a skilled storyteller, perfectly conveying melancholy and rebirth with her heartfelt, acoustic tunes. With extra strings from Hughes as well as percussion and horns from Morris, the songs are perfectly filled out, with sonic space swelling and emptying in all the right spots.

Slaton describes her songwriting process as spontaneous, saying that the main force that drives her to write a song is “feeling a lot of something and needing to make sense of it." Sometimes she'll write a song and bring it to the band; other times the tunes materialize between the three of them: "We'll get together and jam and see what comes out," she says.

For its most recent release, the debut full-length Familiar Spirit, the band took a new approach to the songwriting process: "We all quit our jobs and took a van around the country.... We would stop to write in different places," Slaton says. This includes Chesapeake Bay, the deserts of Arizona and, of course, the Rockies. The result is an album filled with powerful imagery, almost as though the songs were imbued with extra meaning by the locations they were written in. Familiar Spirit also bore some of the band's best singles, including "Civil War," "The Good Fight" and "Open Road."

Despite taking inspiration from all over the country, Slaton retains her hometown pride and recognizes why Denver is such a special place for music. "There are opportunities left and right here.... We sold out Red Rocks last week, and I can only say that because we're in Denver."

Edison will be going on the road again in July, this time for a string of shows in the Midwest, where they'll debut some new material that will be on their next album, which is expected to drop early next year. Before that, however, the band will be playing the Westword Music Showcase at the Coors Light Main Stage, supporting national acts like Shakey Graves and the Revivalists. Edison is sure to deliver an energetic, intimate set, full of heart-on-sleeve sing-alongs and unforgettable songs. After all, Slaton knows that a performance is all about the audience:

Says Slaton: “[A show] is a shared moment.... It takes both parties to make it work. I hope people come away feeling like they shared our songs with us.” - Denver Westword

If you haven't already got the folk-pop band Edison on your radar, it's time to do so. The band, which is out of Denver, Colorado, features lead singer/guitar player Sarah Slaton, and she's definitely one to watch with her unique voice and mellow sound. The band's album Familiar Spirit is out September 16.

But what makes this musical trio especially compelling, beyond their combined talents, is Sarah's coming out story, and ensuing activist spirit. Sarah, who grew up as a tomboy in Northwest Arkansas, which she describes as "the thick of the Bible Belt," spent her youth playing with the boys and attending church. "Homophobia was deeply rooted in us and something I knew to be scared of before my first real crush," Sarah recently told Curve. Around the age of 13 she knew she had feelings for a girl. "I spent the following years trying to 'pray' that feeling out of me, and never said a word to anyone. But it never went away." - Curve Magazine

Colorado-based Edison is known for their flawless blend of alternative and folk styles. Fronted by Sarah Slaton, the group has spent the past years tirelessly touring. They even performed an ultra-marathon 300+ shows over the last three years. According to a press release, the years of traveling gave time for the group to become frustrated with the industry and unfortunately made them realize it’s time for them to focus their energies elsewhere.

On the bright side, the group does not plan on exiting the scene quietly. They have announced a final album, along with a final performance. The album Lion’s Heart is an EP filled with unreleased songs that the group has eagerly waited to show the public. Edison has already released a single “Take Me Home” so fans can have a taste of what is to come with the rest of the farewell album. The final performance is being held at Larimer Lounge this Thursday, August 30 supporting KOLARS. In a recent interview, when asked what the hardest part about breaking up is, Slaton said, “the hardest part for me is how much I’m going to miss playing the songs live. I’m going to miss those moments on stage when the crowd is singing with you.” She continued, “I’m also going to miss climbing on things.”


Edison had a long journey through the music world, and their story bears testament to just how difficult it can be to make it as a band. Having spent years balancing touring with recording, all while trying to lock down a label, Edison had been overworked and they feel it is in all of their best interests to start some new projects and close this chapter. Slaton is taking this as an opportunity to co-write with other musicians in Nashville and Los Angeles — and to get caught up on some sleep — “I’m going to start with a really long nap,” she joked.

“…after hundreds of shows, playing together on stage has become a kind of magic.” – Dustin Morris, Edison
Lion’s Heart comes out this week. When asked what track she’s most excited to share with her fans, Slaton said, “My favorite track is ‘Sideways.’ I love the feel of the song and where it pulls you sonically. I use my TC-Helicon vocal pedal on my voice to pay homage to Imogen Heap and her song “Hide and Seek” that inspired me in a huge way years ago.” In addition to the album release performance at Larimer Lounge, Edison is announcing a few other shows around the United States to give the band a proper goodbye. However, Morris isn’t joining, rather he’s taking the time to focus on his solo career. “Now that we are moving forward into our own paths, I can’t help but have my guitar in hand every morning,” he said. While touring with Edison he has written about a dozen songs that he’s hoping to release next year. - 303 Magazine

Beginning a new chapter where there’s no voices in the peripheral margins means that the music a solo artist makes is as open and limitless as a blank notebook. Slaton, who is best known for wearing many creative hats in defunct Denver trio, Edison, has taken the first step to showing the world what she wants to sound like when standing solo at the mic. And while it’s no hard left turn into dramatically different genre territory from fan-familiar folk roots, “Dance in the Sun” is definitely a stylistic detour on Slaton’s musical journey. Light in tone, this single effortlessly walks a line of instrumental substance and melodic looseness.

Right after a bright nine note piano motif opens the track, a packed arrangement full of the usual suspects – guitar, drum kit, and a lesser heard element in Slaton’s past, bass guitar – fall into place simultaneously. Yet, the kick-in doesn’t aim to knock people off their feet. Acoustic guitar played in comfortably but not excessively high register, and drums that keep things moving with the more reserved touch of a drier snare and a off-beat brush, give the song an immediate flourish of sound without weighing it down. Then, even when Slaton’s vocal rises up a few bars later, the stepwise-focused melody helps to serve a trio of purposes: keeping her voice in the perfect range to modestly float above the backing band, establish a memorable hook anyone can hum after the song ends, and leaving the humble enough that listeners can better take to the lyrics and intended message of optimistic bravery. - Throw The Dice & Place Nice

Since forming in 2014, Colorado’s rising acoustic trio Edison have made touring an absolute priority. “We’ve been on the road nonstop for over a year,” singer/guitarist Sarah Slaton notes in a statement. “We didn’t have a lot of releases out there, so we decided to hit the road and meet as many people as we could and foster those relationships.”

She adds, “We live for the nights that everyone in the room is experiencing the song and everybody’s feeling connected. We just try to remain as open as we can, and invite people to come in.”

Their approach to cultivating a following — somewhat the reverse of what most acts do — has paid off in spades. The band, rounded out by drummer/vocalist Dustin Morris and Grammy-nominated guitarist Maxwell Hughes (formerly of The Lumineers), has formed bonds with audiences all across the US and earned much coveted support slots with the likes of Iron & Wine and Nathaniel Ratliff & the Nightsweats.

Now, having fine-tuned their live show and gained a pretty decent legion of fans, Edison are looking to put out their full-length debut. Entitled Familiar Spirit, it’s due out on September 16th through Rhyme & Reason Records, home to The Suffers and Fiction Plane. Though it’s a proper studio release, the nine-track effort in a way captures exactly what the band’s been doing the last 12 months: bringing music to life.

To preview Familiar Spirit, Edison have shared “The Good Fight”. It’s a potent and poignant number anchored by cozy harmonies and an engaging narrative. - Consequence of Sound

Denver’s Edison, fronted by out lesbian Sarah Slaton, has spent the last three years on tour, playing over 300 shows and sharing a stage with the likes of Iron & Wine.

Known for layered harmonies, tribal drumming and mandolin, in their 140,000 miles on the road, they’ve had time and creative space to develop their sound. Their upcoming EP, Lion’s Heart, showcases their mix of simple but expressive lyrics and pop-folk driven guitar.


Read more at https://www.afterellen.com/music/563575-music-video-premier-sideways-by-edison#hKVltuJ7xEec8Zr3.99 - AfterEllen.com