Slow Motion Picture

(04 September 2010) Vocalist Lauren Edman made her debut appearance here in association with the song "Afterthoughts" that she sang with Sleepthief on the Dawnseeker album (review). Read our interview with Lauren. The singer contacted us this month to tell us about a hew new project For Every Story Untold that she formed with Brian Caesar. She also shared their new EP entitled Hideout.

A lifelong musician, Edman had also made an appearance with Delta-S's Voyage to Isis. Caesar had previously been the bass guitarist for As Tall As Lions helping in the writing of the band’s debut album Lafcadio. Since his departure from the group in 2004, he had only picked up his bass for a handful of shows with other artists, and he began refocusing on writing songs with supernatural elements in mind.

Learning that they had similar backgrounds and shared a passion for huge melodic arrangements brought them to the conclusion that the two should collaborate. The first song they wrote together was "Hideout." The arrangement was derived from part of a score to a story that Caesar had written years ago. Edman took this background music and came up with a haunting vocal melody that gave the song new life. Caesar began recording other songs that he had written over the years, including the lyrical ghost stories "Mistakes We've Made" and "Getaway Soul."

For Every Story Untold's debut EP and title track share the name Hideout. The EP was released digitally and is envisaged to be part of the run up to a full length album. Arrangments for the title track are lush with a thick electronic feel. Lauren Edman's voice could have been placed higher in the mix but nonetheless glides atop the instrumentals and her backing vocals add lovely texture to the downtempo number.

The band uses keyboards and thick guitar layers to create the foundation for "From Under Paris." Here Caesar multitracks Lauren's voice to add the thickness necessary to favorably compete with the arrangement. Lauren's additional vocal layers contribute further depth to the sound of the evocatively delivered track. Guitars glisten alongside the singer's successful excursion into the upper end of her range.

In sharp contrast, "Mistakes We've Made" is a delicate ballad sung in a more whispy style against very light acoustic guitar backed with ever so gentle keyboard textures that build up and drop back through the cinematic running time of the song. Lauren clearly holds herself back in the verses building tension that she ultimately releases in the chorus.

The EP concludes with the dynamic rock-oriented track "The Wolf That Bit Me." Lauren's lead vocals are crystalline, strong and powerful rising up above the shimmering electric guitar arrangement. Her backing vocals are equally extraordinary. Here the producer has done a tremendous job placing Lauren's vocal work well up in the mix, right where female vocal enthusiasts like them.

The Hideout EP is available digitally at many online outlets including amazon.com (see link below). Listen to the tracks at the band's MySpace. For Every Story Untold likely have a bright future and will garner interest not only from Sleepthief, Delierum and Conjure One enthusiasts but from New York area audiences that are becoming increasingly familiar with their work. We'll be sure to review the album when it is released. - Musical Discoveries

NYC's For Every Story Untold makes music you close your eyes to, so you don't have any distractions. It's only you and the serene, pleasant sounds of two musicians, Lauren Edman and Brian Caesar (former bassist of As Tall As Lions) pulling you closer to something deep. Together the two create a delicate sound that reaches into your heart and holds it. You listen to their sounds with headphones because you want to be as close to the music as possible, not missing a single melody or arrangement. Sometimes you get caught up in the colliding, mesmerizing music that you can't focus on the lyrics. The voice instrumental itself. For a moment the words don't matter. Not because there is no meaning or you can't understand them, but because everything meshes together in a way that makes it hard to focus on the words. The voice is lovely and rather than focus on the words you focus on the how Edman sings. The music hits you in all the right places. Hideout is an EP of the untold stories of two people. "Mistakes We've Made" pulls your back with its acoustic quality. "I am the Wolf That Bit Me" picks up the edge with its jammy vibe. The four songs clock in at close to 20 minutes. Ambient epicness at its finest! - Star Morales

Who?
For Every Story Untold are an ambient shoegaze duo from Astoria, Queens. Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Brian Caesar was As Tall as Lions bassist from 2003-2004 and helped in the writing of the band's debut album Lafcadio. Vocalist Lauren Edman had written and played with various artists, including but not limited to Sleepthief and Delta isis. The band's press notes indicate that since his departure from ATAL, Caesar had only picked up his bass a handful of times and focused his attention on writing songs with supernatural elements. Hideout is their debut offering.

How is it?
Promising. Opener "Hideout," is celestial and haunting, nocturnal and graceful. Caesar employs wistful movements that are graceful and lilting, while vocalist offers affecting vocals and the honest reflection, "Cause I can't fall in love forever." The song is lush, layered and intricate with tightly packed arrangements and a vocalist who seems to know her way around a song. For all her charms though, the music takes center stage. It is in a few words, nothing short of tremendous.

Second cut "From Under Paris," opens with 70 seconds of celestial noise before giving into Edman's vocals. There's a vulnerability at work here that seems perfectly suited for this kind of arrangement and the guitar lines feel more commercial and accessible. Whether this was intentional or not, it's worth nothing that there's a decidedly arena-ready element to the entire song. While her voice isn't exactly analogous to Karen Bergquist of Over the Rhine, one can't help but think of that band during this song. The rising guitars in the song's last minute are probably the EP's finest moments.

"Mistakes We've Made," opens with an acoustic guitar and is an attempt at introspection that doesn't falter. It's the first chance to hear Edman's range and abilities. Though the song does tack on superfluous arrangements and staggers longer that needed (it's almost six minutes), the song's final 90 seconds are a wash of drums, keys, bass and guitars, and while its fleshed out and pulsing, it is a bit heavy handed.

Final cut "I Am the Wolf That Bit Me," is a solid song but for some reason, listener fatigue has already set in by the time the song hits the halfway mark. Maybe it is the duration of the songs, but the entire listening experience is laborious and can at times feel like a chore. Music should never feel like a chore, and it's safe to say the group badly needed to find their way into a hook or melody. With the exception of "From Under Paris," that never really happens.

The emerging problem is that For Every Story Untold is infinitely capable of writing such songs. And yet the four songs on this EP don't offer that. Does that mean For Every Story Untold becomes just background noise in a crowded Manhattan bar? Only time will tell, but these two musicians are more than capable of turning heads, and one can only hope the next release does exactly that. - Gregory Robson