The Pauses

Origins is our recurring new music feature that sees a band exploring the various inspirations behind their latest track.

Six years after their A Cautionary Tale debut, Orlando three-piece The Pauses are finally ready to return with their sophomore full-length. Entitled Unbuilding, the record is out June 22nd via Arctic Rodeo Recordings. Like their past releases, Unbuilding is the result of collaborative songwriting between multi-instrumentalist Jason Kupfer, drummer Nathan Chase, and vocalist/bassist/keyboardist Tierney Tough (who moonlights as Beach Slang’s touring bassist). With the help of producer/mixer J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines), the trio have pushed their sound deeper into pop territory as they add guitar thrust to their indietronica styles.

Nowhere on the album is this better exemplified than on lead single “Digital Detox”. Sounding as if Speedy Ortiz was a late-’90s emo band, the track buzzes and whistles (literally) in a perfect dance of digital disillusionment. Synths hit as hard as the distorted guitars, creating something nearly like chiptune yet with the drive of tech-savvy garage rock. Tough carries the flag of the cyber revolt in her lyrics, singing, “This instantaneous relief/ I’m losing my own game/ Will we see that absence breeds/ before we amuse ourselves to death?”

Take a listen below. - Consequence of Sound

The Pauses, purveyors of self-described "indierocktronica," have returned with their sophomore album, Unbuilding, with more of their unique blend of, well, indie rock and electronica, leaning mostly towards the former, with electronic elements (not to mention piano, trumpet, and cello) colouring things in nicely throughout.

The band demonstrate their proof of concept strikingly with opening track "Eventually, Everything Connects," and for the most part, everything does, with staccato synth stabs soon joined by drums, guitar and trumpet.

What sets the Pauses apart is their preference for more vintage electronics (there's even a Theremin) as opposed to the shimmering pads most synth-rock bands prefer in 2018. With the strings and horns thrown in, it's a bit of a jarring mix at first, but things sound tight throughout, and by album's end it's all completely normal.

In instrumental approach, the Pauses are not unlike New York's Crying (another female-fronted three-piece), whose 2016 Beyond the Fleeting Gales was a unique blend of emo, electronics and hidden metal accents. The Pauses are more contemplative (and less sugary), but the bands share a penchant for lock-step arrangements, meticulously placed solo flourishes, and other studied details — if you're a fan of one, check out the other. Anyone interested in path-blazing indie rock should check out this latest from the Pauses. (Arctic Rodeo) - Exclaim!

Orlando indie rock trio The Pauses are following their 2011 debut album A Cautionary Tale (and a 2012 split with Great Deceivers) with their sophomore album, Unbuilding, on Friday (6/22) via Arctic Rodeo Recordings (pre-order). Like their debut, it was produced by Jawbox’s J Robbins, and it’s got a little of the off-kilter mathy guitars of the DC/Dischord scene that birthed J Robbins, plus bouncy Mates of States-y synths, and singer Tierney Tough (who is also Beach Slang’s touring bassist) has a delightfully dry delivery that brings to mind Speedy Ortiz or Liz Phair. We’re premiering a stream of the full album in this post, and if you’re into any of those aforementioned sounds, you’ll probably find this album pretty enjoyable. Here’s what Tierney tells us about it:

The album title comes from a book of the same name that I happened upon in a thrift store a long time ago. The Edward Gorey-esque architectural drawings that graced the large pages drew me in, and in technical detail, hypothetically explained how a gigantic building like the Empire State Building could be torn down and moved to another country. Everything about it was attractive, and couldn’t be more relatable for a band that just needed a fresh start. We simply needed to tear it all down and rebuild. Which is what happened here, and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

Listen below.

The band is also touring, including a few shows with J Robbins. They just wrapped up a lengthy run with J’s Camorra/Moral Mazes bandmate Jonah Matranga, who was celebrating the 20th anniversary of Far’s classic Water and Solutions — they opened the shows and were also Jonah’s backing band — and they’ve just announced more dates with Jonah in August. All upcoming dates are listed below. - Brooklyn Vegan

like a narrative structure like a full album,” says multi-instrumentalist Jason Kupfer of The Pauses. “I have to sit down, turn off all the lights, put on the headphones and listen to an album beginning to end. I don’t like singles. An album to me is sort of sacred.”

If albums are sacred, the Orlando indie rock band will be celebrating the equivalent of a rock holy day at their latest album release party on Friday at Park Ave. CDs (9 p.m., 2916 Corrine Drive, Orlando, free, thepauses.com). “Unbuilding,” the second album for Kupfer, vocalist Tierney Tough and drummer Nathan Chase, was released last month, but that shouldn’t get in the way of a good time. This record marks the second time the trio has recorded with underground legend J. Robbins of influential Washington grunge rock outfit Jawbox. The Pauses also worked with Robbins when they recorded their 2011 debut, “A Cautionary Tale.” Robbins will be joining The Pauses at their album release and for a short Florida tour along with cellist Gordon Withers.

“J. was our first choice when we went to record ‘Cautionary Tale,’” says Kupfer. “We didn’t even write down a second name.”

“He brings such a studied ear and a filtered suggestion box,” says Tough. “For vocals, I completely trust him.”

Kupfer believes some of the appeal for Robbins may derive from the unusual recording style of The Pauses. “We work in a way that might be different from the way he records a lot of other bands and I think he might get excited about that,” he says. “Every guitar thing is a completely new guitar in a different amp in a different room with a different pedal … We’ll just try to experiment as much as possible.”

“I think he might like the challenges we present,” says Tough.

“We don’t want to go into the studio with this fully formed thing so that there’s no play area,” says Kupfer. “There’s definitely a magic of finding a moment and putting it on the album that you literally did that day.”

Since playing their first show in 2009, The Pauses have had some major successes, such as opening for Weezer and English psychedelic icons The Zombies. But in their quest to make a sustainable life out of rock, the band is still looking forward to this hometown gig. “You wanna play in your hometown,” says Tough. “You want people to know you released something. We want to celebrate our accomplishment.” - Orlando Sentinel

At last, this long-time-coming follow-up arrives – seven years after the bright debut album of one of Orlando's most iconic indie bands. The Pauses' movements remain as playful as they are angular here. Their palette retains its Grandaddy-esque span of rock and electronics – with cranked guitars that famed producer J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines) no doubt proudly urged set against an ever-shifting tapestry of mood, texture and energy. Unbuilding is an update, furtherance and fortification of the Pauses' dynamic signature, a testament to one of Orlando's best, most accomplished indie-rock bands. - Orlando Weekly

Floridians: hope you are here, @thepauses are killing it, we are next, sorry for the downpour! - Weezer

"We're up to like eight name drops," deadpans Jason Kupfer, multi-instrumentalist for the Pauses, in the middle of an honestly charming anecdote from singer/bassist Tierney Tough about their deep ties with Athens garage freaks Five Eight. And the fact that Tough enthuses as much about swimming in guitarist Sean Dunn's pool as she does about sharing stages with them is emblematic of how the group stays grounded and starry-eyed even while (ahem) swimming in the rarefied echelons of indie rock royalty.

In most – if not all – cases this would come across as kinda crass name-dropping, but when Kupfer and Tough do it in conversation with Orlando Weekly, it's endearing and even idealistic. Doing their laundry with Chris Carrabba, playing a song at J. Robbins' 50th birthday party, getting ice cream with Tim Kasher ... their giddiness and genuine excitement is palpable. When Kupfer later exclaims, "Playing [Jawbox's] 'Savory' with J. Robbins, that's probably the highlight of my musical anything. I can retire after that," you believe it. And at the same time, they tirelessly book shows for the musicians they love. "We help each other," says Tough. "It feels like family."

The Pauses – Tough, Kupfer and drummer Nathan Chase, along with "an arsenal of six touring drummers" – have become an Orlando institution and point of pride since they first started up in 2009. Mixing classic indie hooks with intricate and playful electronics, the band quickly became more than a local secret. The group toured relentlessly, shared stages with acts from John Vanderslice to the Zombies, and in 2011 released debut album A Cautionary Tale through South Florida's New Granada Records.


"What I've always appreciated about the Pauses is that they're one of those bands that move with great deliberation," reflects Orlando Weekly music columnist Bao Le-Huu. "They're craftspeople. They've always maintained an unconventional blend of rock and electronics, of art and pop."

By the time 2016 rolled around, though, the band felt adrift. Still frustrated by the reception of their debut album, Kupfer increasingly focused on his jack-of-all-trades film work, while Tough poured her energy into her formidable OYG Presents booking concern – bringing Kool Keith and Archers of Loaf's Eric Bachmann to town – and collaborating with the Posies' Ken Stringfellow. There were still live engagements, but things seemed to quiet down for the Pauses.

Fast-forward to 2017, and suddenly the band was everywhere, releasing their debut album on cassette for the vinyl-centric Record Store Day 2017 and even opening for Weezer at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre. Most affectingly for locals, the Pauses played two memorial events for Billy Manes: the first opening for the B-52's Cindy Wilson – whom Tough remembers as a "real Southern belle" – and then with Manes' favorite band, the ever-raucous Five Eight. Manes' husband, Anthony Mauss, remembers those nights fondly: "Watching them share a stage alongside performers I have long admired felt so right – watching a band that you have listened to from the very beginning not only hold their own with veterans of the indie scene but also impress is always a joy." This all culminated in a sublime, surreal and silly crowdfunding campaign to cover the costs of recording and releasing a second album. All stops were duly pulled out, with even some Sesame Street-esque puppetry employed. With the campaign completed successfully at the end of November, demos ready to go and German record label Arctic Rodeo already committed to release a completed LP, Tough and Kupfer decamped to Baltimore for a couple weeks to record with underground legend J. Robbins.

With his stints in D.C. hardcore innovators Government Issue, alternative rock maestros Jawbox and the urgent Burning Airlines, Robbins was a dream pick for the band. Recording at his studio, Robbins proved invaluable as a mentor figure and a "constant ear you could bounce things off," according to Kupfer. The band are still starstruck over the experience.

"I remember the first time we were recording vocals, he came into the room and was like, 'I'm just gonna show you a few breathing techniques that Craig Wedren [Shudder to Think] showed me," Tough recalls with a laugh. "And I was like, 'Oh OK. ... We even asked him to whistle on the record and he did!"

The band are equally pleased to be working with Arctic Rodeo. "You want to work with someone who cares," says Tough. "Bigger labels were just asking about how many followers we had."

The dream actualization of Unbuilding continues down through the album's intricate cover illustrations, courtesy of Dan Black at Landland. The versatile Black – whom Tough laughs "did a box set for Phish and made it look kinda punk!" – took the architectural allegories for the human condition in Unbuilding and ran with them. The results are stunning, invoking the obsessiveness of a Chris Ware.

The pace of 2018 has been gratifyingly frantic for the band. Unbuilding finally hit the shelves of discerning record stores this summer, the band played a release show at Park Ave CDs with Robbins as a one-off support act, and then they took off on a headlining, self-booked tour, squeezing in a Daytrotter session along the way.

They laugh in disbelief about a fan who approached them saying he'd been waiting to see them since the first album. "I'm sorry," deadpans Tough with a chuckle. Then the duo took off on a tour supporting Jonah Matranga of Far (which they are still on at press time) as both opening act and backing band as Matranga plays pivotal Far album Water & Solutions in its entirety. That's two full sets a night, for those keeping count.

Matranga is fulsome in his praise of the band, who learned the album in just two days: "They simply love music, and it shows. Everyone feels dedicated to doing the music justice, which is pretty much what it's all about. These tours might not have happened without them." Not bad for a touring partnership that sprung up from a casual Facebook comment Matranga left on a Pauses post about their new album.

Tough and Kupfer are happy with this lengthy run of touring, enthusing both about the Far audience's receptiveness to their own music and enjoying Matranga's improvisatory style as bandleader. (There are tales of an impromptu clutch of Prince covers in Reading, Pennsylvania.) Tireless music scene photographer Jen Cray caught the Water & Solutions Orlando tour stop and was left duly impressed.

"I've seen the Pauses many, many times over the years and yet this performance felt like they were breaking through the Orlando ceiling into something more national," says Cray. "Like they're hungry for more and this time around they're going to make a serious attempt to get it."

After this tour is completed, the Pauses will, well, pause for a moment and then play the Sing Out Loud and Hopscotch festivals this autumn, with perhaps even more touring to follow. The band is undaunted.

"I like doing this, I'm a nomad at heart," smiles Tough. "It would be nice to have another week home, but I love getting out of town and doing this. This is our bread and butter. We live to play shows." - Orlando Weekly

Orlando indie trio the Pauses have been tapped by '90s alternative rock hitmakers Weezer to open for them at a big show in St. Augustine this May, and as you can imagine, for a band like the Pauses, it's a dream come true.

Pauses vocalist/bassist Tierney Tough told OW: "The wonderful folks at the St. Augustine Amphitheater asked us out of the blue if we would be interested in opening [for Weezer]. I was driving to work when I got a text that said 'check your email', and dangerously took my eyes off of the road to see what it was all about. My hands started shaking as I read that we were confirmed by the band, and then I let out the longest, happiest scream ever. After pulling over, of course! It still doesn't feel real." - Orlando Weekly

We wrote the above about Orlando indie pop trio The Pauses‘ 2011 debut (and so far only) album in our preview of The Fest which they played this past weekend (anyone catch them?). Now they’ve added more dates happening this month which will bring them up north for their first full-band NYC show on November 16 at Grand Victory. That show is being headlined by BELLS≥, the band featuring former Jawbox drummer Zach Barocas, and who have collaborated with Jawbox frontman J. Robbins (who produced The Pauses’ album). Jumpers and Thurn & Taxis are on that bill too.

Meanwhile, J. Robbins has shows coming up this month too.

All dates are listed, with their LP stream, below… - Brooklyn Vegan

Headlining this show is the Jawbox-related BELLS≥, who are of course always a good band to catch, but making this show extra interesting is it’s the first full-band NYC show from Orlando’s shapeshifting indie pop trio The Pauses (whose 2011 debut was produced by Jawbox frontman J. Robbins). - Brooklyn Vegan

Orlando-based synth rock trio The Pauses is a master of contrast. Producing indie rock out of a notoriously commercial music hub, the act is equal parts electronic and organic with a style that combines something old and something new. And while prioritizing a long-awaited sophomore release, it is the live show that receives most of the band's attention.

Obtaining musical credibility coming out of Orlando is less of a challenge now than in years past, and some of the credit should go to Pauses front woman Tierney Tough. Aside from her work supporting top-shelf indie names like Matt Pond, Tough was the organizer of the yearly Orange You Glad Fest, bringing local recognition to quality indie bands of Central Florida and beyond. Although previously noted for spawning boy bands and other music for 8-year-olds, Orlando is now a safe place to seek acts that don't involve pesky puppets and robots.

"Orlando has been associated with some terrible music," Tough admits. "But I would think by now, hopefully, we're far removed from the boy and butt rock bands of the years past. Bands and people like You Blew It!, Wet Nurse, Teen Agers and XXYYXX are all hardworking and out making names for themselves. It's really nice to share a city with them.

"As far as the scene goes, it's hard to pinpoint. I don't think we sound like any of the bands here and vice versa. There's a lot of crossover though, and it's actually quite a big community of music lovers all going to everyone's shows, no matter what genre. It's pretty cool."

Branching off their hometown's historic pinnacle of pop accessibility, The Pauses re-examine '90s alternative influences through a modern indie rock lens. The band's much-acclaimed debut outing, "A Cautionary Tale" could be described as a splicing of catchy, female-led yesteryear jangle-pop akin to Letters to Cleo or Belly with the synthy, unpredictable rhythmic chaos of Deerhoof. Simultaneously lauded and questioned for placing quality before pace, the 2011 release was described as a patient undertaking, given the band's 2009 formation, and the follow-up album looks to be even more painstaking. Originally forecasted for early next year, The Pauses now see this tentative due date as improbable, given their many other obligations.

"Certain songs are either a lot heavier or a lot gentler or maybe feature a different instrument this time around," says Tough of the new material. "The electronic element is still there and almost frames a lot of the songs now, rather than complementing them. And we're always up for incorporating unconventional things, but I'll save that information for when the album actually comes out ?

"Early 2015 may have been a bit of a pipe dream. We're working on songs; they're just coming out slowly, which I'm OK with. I'd rather have music we all feel good about than something that feels rushed for the sake of having it. I guess the reason it takes so long is because we all do a lot of other things that more or less take time away from the band. Nathan (Chase) has a family and runs a popular movie rating website. Jason (Kupfer) directs horror films and works for a production company. And I work in a venue and tour a lot with other projects. But I promise you we're trying to change the speed of things."

Road-testing its new material, The Pauses' live performances offer a visual dynamic unavailable on any recording. Inspired by its members' film fanaticism, the act incorporates its inventive "Interact-o-vision," into its shows. An audience-guided keyboard system projecting various clips in adjustable speeds as determined by different keys and dials, Interact-o-vision entices showgoers to choose their own adventure and shape their own concert experience.

"We played our first show (in Orlando) in 2009 with a band called the XYZ Affair, Tough recalls. "We had three keyboards all across the front of the stage. It was kind of ridiculous, looking back now. I think we've certainly figured things out a lot better since then. ... It seems like we're always changing our configuration. Lately we've had an additional member to fill out certain things that aren't on the recordings, but normally it's just the three of us. We use a lot of sample-based triggers and most of us are playing multiple instruments. Maybe we just like the challenge ?

"(Interact-o-vision is) our midi-controlled keyboard that faces audience members and allows any non-rhythmic person to push any of the keys and control all of the visuals that are projected behind us. It definitely adds a lot more setup and gear to our already hefty load, but it's actually pretty fun. People are either confused but engaged, or just get right in there and start playing it." - Knox News

Get there early for the opener, Matt Pond—a staple in the indie music world, creating music since the early 2000s, and a headliner in his own right. Catch Chris Hansen and the newest tour lineup, including The Pauses‘ Tierney Tough, singing alongside Pond this Saturday night. - The Vinyl District

In just a few days, Crowbar get’s treated to one hell of a bill when Jukebox The Ghost is joined by Matt Pond. A few days ago Matt Pond sent ripples through our television when he brought his band — which now includes The Pauses‘ Tierney Tough on keyboards) to NBC for an appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.

Pond came to play “Love To Get Used” in support of his ninth studio LP – The Lives Inside The Lines In Your Hand – and on hand to support Pond was Orlando, Fla.’s own Tierney Tough, who most of us recognize as frontman of poptronica outfit The Pauses. - Suburban Apologist

Like 'N Sync, the Pauses are from Orlando, but let's not hold that against them. It's pretty clear this trio spent the boy-band years absorbing the entire Saddle Creek catalog. Their debut, A Cautionary Tale, is as poppily sincere as anything from Rilo Kiley, except that just when you begin to take a song for granted, they wrench the carpet out from under your feet. Take "Little Kids," a song that starts out as a sweetheart confessional, with a mid-tempo synth riff; after a few verses of navel gazing—and an instrumental breakdown midway through—Tierney Tough breaks into a full-on lyrical assault that completely belies the tenderness of just a few minutes ago. Opening are the Slidells, who play doo-wop that sounds exactly like something really awful is about to happen in a David Lynch movie.
-REBECCA WILSON - Portland Mercury

I’m delighted with a recent discovery I’ve made, out of Orlando. Indie trio The Pauses caught my ear with the track “The Beginnings of Things,” which I mistakenly thought was on their 2011 eight-song debut A Cautionary Tale. Actually, you can find it on a 12-inch split they made with Great Deceivers. Either way, that got me hooked, and I’m enjoying the album as well.

Their sound mixes indie pop, a little bit of ‘90s indie rock, and a rather atmospheric ingredient that melds synths and guitar. You can even find a little bit of ukulele sneaking in toward the end on A Cautionary Tale, produced by alt.-rock/indie illuminaries J. Robbins (Jawbox) and engineer T.J. Lipple (Aloha). It’s the best of rock and electronica.

This is something you’ll want to check out. The Pauses will be in town for a show tonight at The Mohawk, 912 Red River. Doors open at 9 p.m. Very good stuff here, and a great way to kick off the week. Recommended. - KUT - Austin, TX

The Pauses have always done things the old-fashioned way—even if those things take a little more time to gestate. The Orlando-based trio has been one of its region's most consistently honored indie-rock groups in recent years, and for good reason. While many wannabe artists litter the web each time they put a musical masturbation to tape with the hope that some trendsetting blog will notice, the members of The Pauses gigged hard, developed their sound and raised enough dough to hire their hero, J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines), to produce their 2011 debut, A Cautionary Tale.

#Released by tasteful Tampa indie label New Granada, the album is a sterling work of mature, intelligent music. With an expansive instrumental palette that contains rock, electronic and even orchestral hues, the band's '90s-influenced sound deftly marries airy indie-pop with angular post-hardcore in ways that are fluid yet complex, sweet but moody.

#Thanks largely to the adhesion provided by the disarmingly smooth voice of Tierney Tough (a longtime scene supporter and founder of Orlando's increasingly notable Orange You Glad Music Festival), A Cautionary Tale is a dance of seeming opposites that results in a record of dynamic intrigue—rather than the confused mess it could've been in lesser hands. And ironically, tastemaking blogs like My Old Kentucky Blog and Three Imaginary Girls ended up noticing the record's craftsmanship and showering it with high praise. Weird how that works, innit?

#What's more, The Pauses' concerts are known to be highly different and engaging. This time, the group is touring with its trademark "Interact-O-Vision" show, wherein audience members are allowed to live-edit the visuals during the band's performance, via a simple keyboard pre-stocked with video clips and effects. - Flagpole Magazine

This track, "Don't Wake Me Up,” from Orlando band The Pauses, comes from a benefit compilation that was recently released to help support musician Jason Noble (Rodan, Shipping News, Rachel's), who has a rare form of cancer. The collection includes tracks from J. Robbins, Beauty Pill and Olafur Arnalds, among others, and this particular number is a clattering, fuzzed-out rocker that should give you the inclination to pick up the entire comp, which is available exclusively via Bandcamp.
- RCRD LBL

Looking at the lineup, almost anyone would’ve pegged the heavily grunge-influenced Yogurt Smoothness as the closest in spirit to the band of honor, and they definitely sounded like it with a nicely polluted set. But the Pauses positively shocked with their total transformation. Still, them even dressing the part was less of a surprise than the normally meticulous and tasteful band actually getting down and dirty. Convincingly. I thought I’d never live to see or say it, but the Pauses can kick out some seriously smeared punk rock. And you know one mighty nostalgia dragon has been stirred when the generally behaved Matt Gersting (the New Lows) rushes the stage, yells into the mic and dives into the crowd. Rock! - This Little Underground / Orlando Weekly

The Pauses, hailing from Orlando, are set to release their first full-length this Saturday at Backbooth. A Cautionary Tale came out of a long-planned trip up to Baltimore to record with Jay Robbins who has also recorded and produced a slew of incredible independent acts such as The Dismemberment Plan, Mewithoutyou, Modern Life Is War, and Against Me. The result was something that came together like the warm summers of Orlando, entangled between lines of J’s thick conception of song craft and production.

The Pauses are an eclectic mix of keyboard-induced rage pop, led by one of Orlando's hardest working musicians, Tierney Tough. Tierney's intriguing choice of melodic structures and harmonic movements breathe fresh air into the typical art of songwriting. Aurally, they incite the waves of bands like Metric and Weezer’s old material, however, they produce a sound that is synergistic with the collective culture of true underground indie rock bands. Ten dollars gets you admission and a copy of the record; three bucks gets you in. - The Dropp

2011 was the official launch of ’90s nostalgia, and other than the Girls album, no record came closer to capturing the sonic spirit of the decade than the Pauses’ J. Robbins-produced A Cautionary Tale. However, while Girls (and Yuck) go for a sort of explicit genre homage, the Pauses prefer to channel the era’s indie-rock ethos while employing production techniques and a songwriting touch that’s very much forward-looking. Even better? It was birthed right here in Orlando. – JF - Orlando Weekly

Hometown heroes, The Pauses, lent their song "The Leap Year" to a mini-documentary
called, "The Love Competition". The film, which is featured in the incredibly awesome
Wholphin DVD magazine, documents a neurochemical study in which participants are
challenged to love as hard as they can.

The Pauses deliver one of the tightest live shows around, capturing all the electronic
intricacies and crunchy guitars from their stellar debut A Cautionary Tale. Be sure to
check them out as they gear up for their trek to South by Southwest at the Peacock
Room on February 25th and on March 8th at the Orange you Glad Festival. - Tiny Waves

The Pauses
Led by Tierney Tough (vocals, bass, keys), Orlando’s The Pauses, took the stage at Skinny’s Ballroom promptly at 8 p.m. sounding like a cross between The Pixies and Shudder to Think. For fans of 90s alternative, there’s a lot going on here, including pop hooks, solid melodies and plenty of groove, but what impressed me the most, was the TV. The Pauses had travelled to Texas with a television and a couple of pieces of furniture in tow. Set up directly in front of the stage (obstructing the view of the band, depending on where you stood) was an audience-facing keyboard connected to a television screen displaying looped midi images controlled by the keys and modulation wheels of the synthesizer (encased in a vintage, wooden piano frame). - Creative Loafing Tampa

The Pauses
Led by Tierney Tough (vocals, bass, keys), Orlando’s The Pauses, took the stage at Skinny’s Ballroom promptly at 8 p.m. sounding like a cross between The Pixies and Shudder to Think. For fans of 90s alternative, there’s a lot going on here, including pop hooks, solid melodies and plenty of groove, but what impressed me the most, was the TV. The Pauses had travelled to Texas with a television and a couple of pieces of furniture in tow. Set up directly in front of the stage (obstructing the view of the band, depending on where you stood) was an audience-facing keyboard connected to a television screen displaying looped midi images controlled by the keys and modulation wheels of the synthesizer (encased in a vintage, wooden piano frame). - Creative Loafing Tampa

These Orlando locals took over the Mills Avenue gallery, Substance, with their own art show Thursday night – letting the audience create their own visual accompaniment for the band. They had rigged up a projector to a retro keyboard so that every key played a different video loop, and the playback could be reversed and sped up via a dial. The Pauses’ fun indie grooves were the inspiration and the dancing crowd became the artists. Things got even wilder when the Everything Is Terrible crew came by, still dressed in gigantic dog costumes from their performance/screening of Doggie Woggiez Poochie Woochiez - “We came to see The Pauses, get it? The PAWses!” The band kept energies high even while belting out heartfelt ballads and closed the first official night of the fest with a bang. - Consequence of Sound

Well, this was a little unexpected, but two videos for Pauses‘ songs – “Go North” and “Hands Up” (both shot by John Deeb and Deeb Studios) – were selected for admission into two different film festivals. The Illinois International Film Festival selected “Hands Up” (which you can check out for yourself up ^^^^ there), and the Red Rock Film Festival picked “Go North” (below) as an Official Selection. - Orlando Music News

Sometimes cover art is just as eye-catching as the music that resides within the album. A Cautionary Tale, the debut album of Orlando-based band, The Pauses, is well-thought out just by looking at the cover art. It depicts a couple of plump rosy-cheeked children digging for gold coins in the ground. Parody perhaps of some some lighthearted fairy tale that goes awry in a fluster of adventurous imagery and majestic sounds. Playfulness and artistry describe these songs. Two themes that go hand in hand when making an album. As for the title, A Cautionary Tale fits perfectly. It caters to the playful vocals on the album and the playful artwork.

South Florida gets a healthy dose of the Pauses' storytelling this weekend with shows at Propaganda Friday, Laser Wolf on Saturday, and Dada on Sunday.


The single, "Go North," has an accompanying video that seems inspired by such a simple idea. An arrow traveling on a straight path, hitting every target in sight and leaving behind remnants of exploding glitter, gummy bears and glass. Tierney Tough's voice is effortless, but also timeless.

The Pauses - Go North from Deeb Studios on Vimeo.

The Pauses. With the Leylines, and Andy Matchett & the Minks. 8 p.m. Friday, April 1 at Propaganda, 6 S. J St., Lake Worth. Tickets cost $5 to $10. Click here.

The Pauses. With Chris Horgan. 8p.m. Saturday, April 2 at Laser Wolf, 901 Progresso Dr. #101, Fort Lauderdale. No cover. Click here.

The Pauses. With The Dewars. 10 p.m. Sunday, April 3 at Dada, 52 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. No cover; PBR and whiskey specials. Click here. - Broward Palm Beach New Times

It was a lovely night to be outdoors on Saturday -- especially if you happened to be standing around mingling amid the sizable and cheery crowd in Laser Wolf's pristine and elegant courtyard. The grass is lush, the bushes carefully manicured, and its shape is triangular by virtue of the old, charming building that provides its borders. At the peak of the triangular lawn was a comfortable stage setup, where Orlando band the Pauses, and local favorite (and friend of County Grind) Chris Horgan, each delivered beautiful sets of music, enriching the already sweet scene.

The Pauses are a three-piece who are highly creative, deeply soulful, and really fun. They sometimes stick to a guitar, bass, and drum arrangement to deliver their groove -- which is at times haunting, funky, and sweet -- but incorporate lots of tasteful synth, keyboards, and sequencing as well. The lead vocalist, Tierney Tough, has great, comforting presence, and her voice is very chill and naturally energetic. Throughout the set, which featured mostly songs from their debut album, A Cautionary Tale, the influence of Radiohead was noticable right alongside tinges of '70s funk, with a lot more flavors glowing within their tight, unique sound as well.

The centerpiece of their stage setup was an old TV, which exhibited fun, kitchy images from the '70s: monkeys swinging from trees, women water-skiing, football games, scientists in laboratories, etc. And just in front of the screen, on the lawn, were a few wild and unstoppable dancers, who really helped to bring the music and the crowd energy to the next level. All the elements worked together perfectly to amount to a great show in a unique and wonderfull environment. At one point, guitar player Jason Kupfer commented on the scene: "This is like a Gatsby garden party. I feel like people should be playing croquet." That would've been cool too, but it was more than sufficient to have people playing music of that quality. - Broward Palm Beach New Times

Orlando, Florida spawned the next band, a hefty melodic rock trio called The Pauses. I was fully prepared for this to be another ambient/noise electro band that just strapped on instruments because it makes you look more like a band, but was completely surprised. These guys could actually rock pretty hard. They had three keyboards and a laptop dispersed throughout their setup, but they used them delicately, as a musical option rather than a crutch for lack of musical skill. And the drummer was 100%, USDA Choice Rock. The overall effect was decidedly heavy but full of dark, beautiful melodies. For refernce, maybe somewhere between the Smashing Pumpkins and the Breeders? Or for those familiar, Athens’ own Witches shared some similar vibes with these guys. Esoteric referencing aside, this is the only band all week that I actually bought the CD (partly because it was the only band whose merch table I could actually locate. But still). - Red and Black - University of GA

I got to meet some of the fine folks in The Pauses at PAX East and they were very polite, but they are so much more than that. Continuing conversation with them in the months following, I checked out some of their ridiculously poppy songs, but they are so much more than that too. Their bio on their site describes their sound as “a balancing act between rock and electronics, airiness and heft, suppleness and angularity” and “a world where guitars are BFFs with synthesizers, horns, bells, and ukuleles” but they’re so much more than THAT even! The “so much more” that totally knocked my socks off was the band’s willingness to do fun, exciting and creative things to engage and motivate their fans. They put together a brilliant DIY Kickstarter video to drum up much needed funds to record their debut album A Cautionary Tale, and they’ve totally outdone themselves with this unboxing video of their track "Go North" which hits Rock Band via RBN today. It’s one of the cleverest bits of promotion I’ve seen from RBN, so do your eyeballs, earholes, smile makers, and instrument playing parts a favor and watch the video and download the heck out of this song as soon as humanly possible.

For more information on The Pauses, check out their website at ThePauses.com". - Rock Band

Human relationships are endlessly influential, let alone infinitely informative. It can be said that we learn more from human interaction than we do sitting behind a desk, staring forward at a board or screen. We learn best from experience, and what better way to learn about the world than through the people who populate it. It's important to remember, however, that we must pause to reflect on each lesson acquired from these interactions, otherwise it will all be just a faded memory.

The Pauses are a band that capture the essence of this concept; they are a sonic reflection -- both lyrically and musically -- of life's mosaic of emotions. They could be simply defined as an indie rock 'n' roll band, but there's a lot more going on here than such an umbrella term would suggest. On songs like "Go North," they paint the topsy-turvy nature of a romantic relationship with stop-start rhythms, staccato'd riffs, and winding instrumentation that recalls the post-punk guitar harmonies of Pretty Girls Make Graves. "Hands Up" illustrates the band's knack for intimate, honest beauty, combining riveting piano and orchestral strings with an assortment of glitchy, distorted hisses, blips, and tones.

The Pauses just released their debut album entitled A Cautionary Tale, which was produced by indie mega producer J. Robbins (Jawbox, Government Issue). Both "Go North" and "Hands Up" are from the album. View music videos for the songs below.

This video for "Go North" is one of the most well-executed videos I've seen recently. Never before has breaking things with an arrow been so awe-inspiring and absolutely beautiful. To exercise a bit of a cliche, this video perfectly captures the song's explosive character.


Starring - Lilia Stepanova
Director - John Deeb
Producer - Katie McCain
Editor - Mike Quinn Jr.
Cinematography - John Deeb
Color & FX - Marco Cordero
Props - Jennifer Dorsman/Jonpaul Douglass/Jason Kupfer

The video for "Hands Up" takes the song's affecting nature and magnifies it, creating a piece of art that is incredibly poignant. Now this video is one of the best I've seen in a while, hands down.


Starring - Katie Smith
Director - John Deeb
Producer - Katie McCain
Editor - David Estrada
Cinematography - John Deeb/Jonpaul Douglass/Marco Cordero/Jason Kupfer

The band kept a blog to document the recording of their debut. You can read/see/hear it all right here.

BUY: A Cautionary Tale is out now on New Granada Records. Along with production by J. Robbins, the album features children's book illustrations by Travis Lampe. Pick it up here.
- Mixtape Muse

Promoting yourself as a music artist has never been an easy thing. Up until the recent digital revolution, record companies had a tight grasp on promoting the artists that they wanted you to like. They controlled everything from finding, producing, and distributing music. But all that has changed, and save for a handful of artists from the old guard producing new music and select newer artists who rely on visual gimmicks to sell their music, all the necessary tools for musicians are now good enough and cheap enough to shatter the old regime… provided you know how to use them properly. Aspiring musicians can now turn their bedroom into a professional recording studio, and promote their music through social media, hoping to “go viral.” One such artist that is making the most of new technology and seemingly on the verge of making it big is The Pauses.

Last week, the Orlando, Florida based trio made their Rock Band Network debut with “Go North,” from their first album A Cautionary Tale. The album was possible thanks to a clever and adorable Kickstarter video (seen directly below). Using the proceeds from Kickstarter, the band not only created their first album, but also created their first Rock Band Network song. Late last week, the band unveiled a similarly unique “unboxing” video for the song, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

I recently had a chance to chat over email with Tierney and Jason from The Pauses. Check it out!

RockBandAide: For those in the Rock Band community who may not be familiar with you, why don’t you tell us a little bit about the band?

Tierney: Well, we’re a newish band (2-3 years young) from Orlando who loves coffee, movie-watching and reviewing, traveling in small quarters, and constantly finding the means to bring our crazy ideas to fruition. We just recently self-financed our first album where we saved every penny we had and then filled in the rest of the money gap through Kickstarter. With that, we were able to hire on a great producer, mastering engineer, manufacturer, artist, and even had help from a small label to garner some national attention. It was everything we planned for. We couldn’t have had a better experience making the record.

RBA: How would you describe your music style to people who have never heard it?

Tierney: We’re often compared to some late 90's indie pop rock bands like Rilo Kiley, Metric, Pinback, which luckily for us, is a style that seems to be coming back (or maybe never went away) and is akin to our musical likings.

RBA: Who were some of your early musical influences?

Jason: Really it was anything that my dad owned on vinyl. From about six or seven I was sneaking into his den to clumsily fiddle with the turntable and just play whatever was there. Luckily it was always The Beatles, Elton John, Billy Joel, or Queen. My first personal vinyl purchase was Thriller even though it scared the shit out of me.

Tierney: I, like Jason, also explored my parent’s record collection often and was pleasantly forced to listen to 60's pop and Motown in car rides when I was younger.

RBA: What album(s) do you remember listening to growing up that had the biggest impact on you?

Jason: There were a number of life shattering first album listens that I can distinctly remember irreversibly shifting how I’d perceived music up to that point. Helmet – Meantime, Extreme – Three Sides, Nirvana – Nevermind, Shiner – The Egg, and Burning Airlines – Mission Control. It’s a fairly easy assumption to make that if it weren’t for Nuno Bettencourt or Kurt Cobain I’d have been a lot less interested in wasting my time trying to learn guitar.

Tierney: I remember the first time I heard Bjork’s “Vespertine”. I was on tour and someone put it on in the car. I was just completely enraptured by the sounds coming out of the speakers. At that moment I knew that my album- listening experience had peaked, and that nothing else could top it.

RBA: What is the most recent artist that you’ve added to your iPod?

Jason: As I’m answering, I’m actually listening to Mini Mansions (added today). It’s conveniently also the best thing I’ve added to my iPod in a long time and would make it seem as though my iPod is littered with all things just as good. It’s not.

Tierney: I’m more of an iPhone listener. Recently, I’ve uploaded Lower Dens “Twin-Hand Movement”. It’s a great, mellow, slow-rock kind of record with some really pretty vocal melodies.

RBA: Where do you find inspiration for your songs? What has been the oddest source of inspiration?

Jason: I work for a production company writing songs for commercials and films. It can be a disillusioning experience stripping and beating a song up until it meets a client’s taste and bears little resemblance to anything of creative value. Writing for the band usually comes out of pure excitement of being able to write with complete creative control along with two people that I trust to be a little less concerned about how the song will contribute directly to our profit margin. The Leap Year was instrumentally inspired by a local performance artist named Brian Feldman who, for 24 consecutive hours, leapt off of a 12 foot ladder in the middle of downtown Orlando. The song was written for the event and looped a total of 366 times. Everyone was totally into it until that last loop or two.

Tierney: For me, it’s just pulling from daily interactions. I’m very influenced by people. I didn’t realize it at first, but almost every song on our album relates to a different person in my life. When I sit down at the piano, that’s my opportunity to resolve those minor humps throughout the day. It’s just me talking and “Rhoda” (my Fender Rhodes) listening. It’s very therapeutic. I’m not sure how other people do it.

RBA: I saw that your recent debut album was produced based on a Kickstarter campaign using a very creative video (see above). How did this idea come to you?

Jason: The main reason you’d have to utilize Kickstarter in the first place is because you’re lacking the money required to pull off whatever your specific creative project is. So, if you’re going to be outright panhandling, then you may as well be honest about it. Really the video was our way of making fun of ourselves and the dependence we had on support from our fans, friends, and family.

RBA: In retrospect, how did this work out, and would you have changed anything about this process?

Jason: Not at all. It’s really an incredible system to use for getting everyone involved in the process and for them to be able to own a piece of it. We owe our being able to record the album to everyone that contributed to that campaign. The album would have sounded a lot less sonically impressive if it were recorded on our computer microphone.

RBA: With the ever changing landscape of the music business, are there any tips you would give to other emerging artists about self-promotion?

Jason: I think a lot of bands are so eager to start promoting that they can end up rushing the content that they will be using to actually sell themselves. Things that seem secondary to the music are usually a lot of people’s first impressions of a band (Kickstarter video, Show Poster, Album artwork, Music Video, etc.). Put just as much thought and creativity into these details as you do writing an album. With so many options and shorter attention spans, someone would need a pretty decent excuse to listen to a :30 clip of your song in the first place.

RBA: How often do you perform live?

Tierney: We’ve actually been playing out a fair amount since the record was released, about 3-6 shows a month all over Florida. The plan now is to take a few months off to get ready for our upcoming east coast tour and to work on new songs so we don’t go crazy.

RBA: What is your favorite song to perform live (originals or covers)?

Jason: Right now my favorite to play is a song that we’re recording for an upcoming Jason Noble benefit CD. It’s the first song we wrote since we recorded the album and is easily our most aggressive. I also love playing our cover of “Tonight, You Belong to Me.” We recently played it at House of Blues and gave out a few hundred kazoos so that the audience could trumpet along. To our surprise it actually worked.

Tierney: “The Leap Year” is somewhat challenging and fun to sing with all of it’s vocal ups and downs. I also really love singing “Tonight, You Belong To Me” when someone else is there to sing it with. The harmonies are so pretty.

RBA: How did the opportunity present itself for putting your music in the Rock Band Network?

Jason: It didn’t. I unrelentingly forced it to happen. The first discussion I’d had with our producer J. Robbins was about how we’d need the stems for Rock Band once we were done recording the album. I was pretty nauseatingly obsessed with it. I’m a full on Rock Band nerd (ion drumset, Squier, Mustang, over 1,000 songs…) so being able to include our song in the catalog is beyond surreal.

RBA: How did you decide on what song you wanted to make available for Rock Band? Was it a long process, or a simple decision?

Jason: It actually was pretty simple in that “Go North” was our planned first single. We lucked out in the middle of the authoring process with the RBN 2.0 conversion. In the middle of authoring with Music Game Studio we were told they’d be able to include keyboard and harmonies, so the trumpet and bell parts were integrated for keyboard and the harmonies were dropped in as well. The process was so smooth that we’re already debating what would make a good follow-up track.

RBA: What about games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero having an impact on a player’s interest in playing a real instrument at some point… do you think fans of the game would be more or less inclined to give the real thing a shot after playing these games?

Jason: I don’t know that it has to be the end result. I think a lot of people are content just being able to finally have a way to really play along with songs they love without having to spend years training to do so. It’s literally the only video game I’ve ever played with my parents. But I also think that it’s definitely a gateway game for anyone that’s even remotely inclined to move onto playing music without a TV.

RBA: With Rock Band 3 now available, gamers finally have a chance to play REAL guitar in the game, not just a plastic version. What advice do you have for those who wish to make the ultimate transition and learn to play the real thing?

Jason: Download every Pro Guitar upgrade and work your way through training on them. I would have killed for something like this growing up. The closest I had were Metallica tabs in Guitar World magazine. Just unplug your Squier from the console every once and a while and write something yourself that could eventually end up in the game.

RBA: Have you played your own song in Rock Band?

Jason: Unfortunately, we don’t have creator accounts, but I’ve worn out the Vimeo demo faking it on all the instruments.

RBA: What’s next for you?

Tierney: Working on the next batch of songs, touring, collaborating, hopefully playing a show where the sexy sax man shows up.

Jason: Another Rock Band song hopefully and we’ll be heading out on our first tour for A Cautionary Tale in late July or early August.

RBA: Is there anything that you would like the Rock Band community to know about you that we haven’t touched on yet?

Tierney: We’d love to see videos of people playing “Go North!” Send them to us and we’ll post the best one!

Jason: Also, if anyone can prove that they’re #1 on the leaderboard for any instrument on the song, we’ll send them Pauses Goodies. And when I’m not playing our song, I’ll be on Xbox Live all week destroying the leaderboard for the new Pantera songs. Challenges welcome.

RBA: Thanks, guys! For more info on The Pauses, you can find them on their site ThePauses.com, or on Facebook or Twitter (@ThePauses). Be sure to check out their debut song on the Rock Band Network, “Go North!” Below is a preview of the song, courtesy of thenewnoelisoncruz! - Rock Band Aide

March 16: You’ve given your ears a break for a few days, and it’s just in time for the next show. The Pauses, Orlando natives and yet another two-man and one-woman trio, are performing at Underbelly in Riverside’s Five Points at 8 p.m. The band is debuting its first full-length album, “A Cautionary Tale,” March 8.

The album was produced by noted indie recording artist J. Robbins and mastered by T.J Lipple. It’s jam-packed with funky electronic blips and bops in combination with guitars, drums, bass, bells and even a ukulele.

“We took a long time to create the album because I wanted to start something that felt more natural to me,” said Tierney Tough, lead vocals, bass and keyboard player for the band.

Jason Kupfer, who plays guitar, bells and ukulele, is the reason for most of the electronic melodies and beats that resonate in each tune. Nathan Chase, who plays drums and adds to the collection of electronic punches, meshed well with Tough and Kupfer. After months of working together as a trio, the band decided it was time to record.

“We finally got to a place where our material was at it’s best,” Kupfer said. “There was a lot of expense, planning and prepping for this album.”

The Pauses will showcase songs from an album two years in the making, and you won’t want to miss it. - The Spinnaker

Travis Lampe designed an album cover for The Pauses that looks like a Little Golden Book. - Super Punch

Well, well, well. It looks like Tampa’s New Granada Records is gonna be doing pretty well for themselves out in Austin in a couple of weeks. The label’s official South By Southwest showcase – a Florida extravaganza featuring the Pauses (Orlando), Sunbears! (Jacksonville), Sleepy Vikings (Tampa), King of Spain (Tampa), New Roman Times (ex-Orlando, now-Austin), and, uh, Venice Is Sinking (Athens) – is the front-page feature on the SXSW site today. Justifiably, the writeup talks about how great the label and the bands are. Bearing witness, this 12-track free sampler:

But what the SXSW folks don’t tell you – because they haaaaaaaaaaate day parties – is that New Granada is also putting on one hell of a day party. It’s going down on the same day (and at the same venue) as their official showcase, and it’s gonna be a humdinger, with Joan of Arc (!!), Versus (!!!!), Sarah Jaffe, Stag, Denison Witmer, and Dignan. Holy crap, you guys. Way to roll hard. Now, the Pauses can say that Joan of Arc opened for them. - Orlando Music News

Clever CD package designed to look like a Little Golden Book
01.14.2011
04:18 pm

Topics:
Art
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Music

Tags:
Scrawl
The Pauses
Travis Lampe

image

I really like this smart CD package designed by Travis Lampe for The Pauses’ A Cautionary Tale album. It’s rather sweet.

To be honest, I’ve never heard of The Pauses until now, but I gave them a lil’ listen and they *sort of* remind me of Columbus, Ohio’s Scrawl. Again, sort of. - Dangerous Minds

This Friday the 18th The Pauses from Orlando will play a mixed-genre show at Cool Hand Luc’s with Pop Pop, Nodding Off and Centaur Sapien.

Luc Martin interviewed the electro-pop Pauses so we may know a little more about the SXSW band who will grace our sleepy southern town with their presence.


DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW and remember your dancing shoes!


Luc Martin: How did you guys start?

Tierney Tough: We basically formed from the remnants of other now-defunct Orlando bands. Jason and myself had played together in a band called Vostok years ago that went on unannounced indefinite hiatus, and Nathan in a band called Unsung Zeros that just ultimately broke up.

After a few years of not playing in bands and just staying at home and teaching myself to become a songwriter, I brought a few song ideas to Jason who helped flesh them out, as well as him then bringing in a hefty amount of material to the table. We established a greater chemistry together than in our previous band. After several member changes we found Nathan, who is also an integral part of our sound.

Why the album title, ‘a cautionary tale?’

Jason Kupfer: It actually came as a packaged bundle idea along with the album art concept for the pseudo-golden book. I literally woke up one morning and had both in my head. Just was a perfect fit with the image and the overall tone of the songs. We didn’t necessarily want to give off the impression that this was a concept album or that the individual songs had too much of a threaded connection, but rather a series of short narratives inside of a larger collection, though there are occasional musical and lyrical call-outs to other songs.

How did you guys get hooked up with J. Robbins?

Jason Kupfer: J. was the first person on our one-person list to produce the album. I don’t think we ever even had a discussion. It was just “alright we have an album’s worth of material, let’s call J.” Tierney and I psyched ourselves up for rejection and wrote him an e-mail not actually expecting to hear back and literally within about an hour, he responded having listened to the demos and was all about it. From there it was just figuring out how to raise the money to actually be able to travel out there. J’s name and kick-starter were the perfect combo to get that to actually happen. We owe being able to record with J to everyone who was generous enough to think we weren’t ridiculous for assuming we should do that.

What kind of instrumentation do you all use live? the record sounds very full, with lots of lush instrumentation.

Tierney Tough: We’re not totally a sound guy’s nightmare, but we do have a slightly advanced setup consisting of guitar, bass, drums, multiple keyboards, and additional things like drum triggers and foot bells. Sometimes a ukulele, trumpet, and other vocalists pop up in the set if the show permits.

The lush, full sound on the record you hear can be attributed to J’s impeccable skill. The man has an ear. It was seriously mind-blowing to hear the final mixes he sent after listening to the roughs. The first time I heard them I was thinking “That’s us?”

photo by Jenn Sweeney

How do the songs come together? Does someone start with an idea or is almost a whole song done?

Jason Kupfer: It’s definitely a case by case basis. Tierney and I are both very isolation-based writers, while Nathan is more into framing out the songs in a live setting. Usually a song will be presented to the rest of the band in a general foundation form from T or I and then we’ll collectively knock it about until it’s something that resembles all of our musical sensibilities. It’s very important to us that the end product feel like a collaborative effort regardless of whose idea the song was initially. T. and I have very different styles which, when forced to blend with one another, seem to always unexpectedly form an actual song-like coherence. There are occasional cases of a song coming out of a live “jam” such as Goodbye, Winthorpe and the song for the upcoming Jason Noble benefit, but typically they’ll come out of individual song-writing-hibernation before being Pausified by everyone else.

Your recording blog was such a great idea! what gave you the idea, and what was the reaction from folks like?
Jason Kupfer: Thanks. We’ve always just been fans of transparency with bands and their process. I think we almost did it more for ourselves than anyone else; to be able to have documentation of the whole undertaking. There’s so much happening so quickly when you’re tracking an album that if you don’t take an hour or two out a day to journal it or post a picture or upload a video, you’ll lose those moments to bleary studio oblivion. The reaction was great. We had the Orlando Sentinel and other blogs re-posting it along with us. It meant a lot to us that the people that helped us get there were still interested in what we were actually doing once we were finally able to be there.

Are you excited for SXSW? How did you get involved with that?

Tierney Tough:We are! This is our first time attending and we’re grateful to New Granada Records who were nice enough to put us on their label showcase. It’s going to be great to play with so many friends, and bands we haven’t seen yet. Hopefully we can soak in as much as possible within the short amount of time! In the spring we’ll tour the east coast for the first time, and are making plans to meet up with our friends in bands like the Office of Future Plans, Deleted Scenes, and Bells.

Any plans to release on vinyl?
Tierney Tough: We would most definitely love to see this album released on vinyl! To see the artwork at that size would be incredible. Any interested parties out there? - Two Three Nine

In this day and age when bands release records after 12 hours of existence, Orlando’s The Pauses are a pleasant anomaly. Their debut, A Cautionary Tale, will arrive roughly two years after their formation, a fact can be somewhat credited to Kickstarter campaign that underwrote the recording, but still, one would like to believe that this casual timeline allowed The Pauses to craft A Cautionary Tale to their exacting standards.

Besides being blessed with an extended gestation period, A Cautionary Tale also benefits from the presence of producer J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines) and mastering engineer by T.J. Lipple (Aloha). The result is an extremely accomplished debut record that highlights The Pauses multi-faceted sound.

Lesson here: Take your time, get good folks to help out and make the best record you can make. - My Old Kentucky Blog

The Pauses opened the show. This Orlando quartet had an array of instruments onstage, including a xylophone,which was untouched until their final song. Tierney Tough, switching between her bass and electric piano, had a beautiful voice. Kristen Andre also played an electric piano (along with the xylophone), and contributed some vocals – interesting voice: sometimes slightly off-key, but it sounded intentional, and worked well. Her confidence was a tangible element...she didn’t care what anyone thought – she knew she was cool. Jason Kupfer switched between his Fender Jaguar and a computer sampler, which was used tastefully in moderation. Kupfer & Tough even broke out the hand shakers for one song – I was diggin’ it. Drummer Nathan Chase had some triggers on his acoustic kit, which also added to the eclectic sound. Chase’s rhythms were intricate and diverse, making this band even more captivating. Their style had some Shoegaze influence, along with some Noise Rock elements. An excellent combination of dissonance tempered with melody. Fans of The Pixies/Frank Black, Sonic Youth, early Smashing Pumpkins (before they sucked), and Belle & Sebastian would find this band appealing. I know I did. - Examiner.com

Nothing makes me happier than seeing a band come into its own, and that�s what rising local act the Pauses are doing. Their latest performance (Feb. 20, Will�s Pub) revealed their electronic pop idea to be far more fully conceived than the last time I saw them. Added rock instrumentation in their framework resulted in a meatier, more substantial sound. While every other indie-pop act in town chases cuteness, there�s maturity, elegance and gravitas in what the Pauses do.

- Orlando Weekly

Shit’s tough out there, man. Everyone’s having to get awfully creative just to get by. Take the Pauses, for example, who aren’t even above good old-fashioned panhandling.
The Orlando indie-pop band is trying to scrape together enough cheddar to record their debut album with acclaimed producer J. Robbins – $4,500, to be precise. To that admittedly “impractical and pretentious” end, they’re soliciting donations on their website (www.thepauses.com). The bum who levels with you and says he wants money to buy beer is better than the typical con whose pretense of needing “food” often means “crack.” At least it’s honest and you know exactly where your cash is going.
This space isn’t an open billboard, so I wouldn’t even bother mentioning it if this incredibly promising band weren’t completely worth your while and support.
What’s more, the Pauses – boldly engaging in yet another unjustly maligned practice – are whoring out prime CD booklet space to officially recognize every person donating $15 or more toward the realization of the record (just like Jill Sobule’s fan-financed California Years, released earlier this year, though she charged more for a thank-you listing). I’m donating and so should you.
- Orlando Weekly

Theme songs may soon be on the agenda for The Pauses.

The Orlando trio sought donations to record its debut album on Kickstarter, the website that lets artists appeal to the public to help fund projects.

The Pauses' clever video featured stick-puppets promising a heroic recording session if its funding goal was met — and a tale of woe involving fire, forest animals and a pawn shop.

Donors who pledged $200 or more were promised a "personalized, sitcom-style theme song." Three backers did just that.

The songs are forthcoming, the band promises.

"They're not very pushy," guitarist Jason Kupfer says of the band's most generous benefactors.

"We know them and we're talking to them," singer-bassist Tierney Tough assures.

"The idea is to do an '80s-style, 'Full House'-kind of theme incorporating keywords pertaining to their lives," Kupfer says.

"In a matter of seconds," Tough adds. "Jason is a composer and writes music for commercials."

"I've done some cheesy work before," Kupfer acknowledges. "We could have done a whole album of theme songs if we'd gotten enough donations."

They didn't, but Kupfer, Tough and drummer Nathan Chase did raise enough to record "A Cautionary Tale" with producer J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines) at his studio in Maryland.

The nine songs share nothing in common with the "Full House" theme, although some are nearly as catchy. The band's style, which incorporates sometimes soothing and sometimes jarring electronics into pop song structures, allows for a great deal of diversity, within as well as between the songs, which is as listenable as it is hard to describe.

"We have no idea what we sound like," Tough says with a laugh.

"We just recently did two music videos and one of the things we were having difficulty with is we were hoping to pick a song that gave an impression of the album, but they're all different," Kupfer says.

"Jason and I have great chemistry," Tough says. She writes songs with a "basic simple structure, and then I can give it to him and he can flesh it out into this orchestral masterpiece, for lack of a better word."

"One of the things that makes the album sound so diverse is that all the songs are definitely a mixture and blend of Tierney's and my sensibilities," Kupfer says.

Besides drumming, Chase adds structure to the songwriting process, Tough says, because "sometimes we don't want to do things the normal way and the songs get too strange." - Tampa Tribune

Orlando musicians Jason Kupfer and Tierney Tough were bandmates before they were friends. Not that they didn't like each other; but their relationship started as a professional one in the band Vostok, the friendship growing from a mutual creative respect that ultimately lasted longer than the band that drew them together.

I chatted with Kupfer and Tough by phone last week about their current alt-pop trio, The Pauses, which is gearing up for the national release of their first studio album with two soft release parties this weekend, in Ybor on Friday and in their Orlando hometown on Saturday.

After Vostok dissolved in 2006, Tough stopped playing music for a few years and focused on interior design, eventually deciding she wanted to return on her own terms, "writing my own music, because I was just playing bass in that band. And I asked Jason to come back and help with some songs, because he's my personal Jon Brion ..."

They formed The Pauses in 2008, began working on material and endured the usual member changes until they found the right formula with Nathan Chase, a drummer Kupfer met pre-Pauses. "Nathan just seemed like the perfect person to not only be able to handle complicated, intricate drum work but really understand the electronics that need to be triggered," Kupfer told me.

The Pauses drummed up funds to record their LP via Kickstarter.com, a site that artistic types use as a fundraising platform for their creative endeavors, and where a growing number of bands are successfully raising money to record (like Tampa's own Auto?Automatic?? and Clearwater-based Rise of Saturn). Their first attempt failed. They were more prepared the second time around with a crafty promotional video and a huge motivating factor: the chance to work with J. Robbins (Jawbox, Against Me!). "When we first started talking about making the album, there wasn't another person that we ever discussed," Kupfer said, and Tough explained that while they could have easily self-recorded the album, "We really just wanted to go somewhere else where we didn't have to worry about the daily things and work with someone who we admire and appreciate."

Kupfer said they were more than a little surprised when Robbins not only got back to them the same night they contacted him, but had already listened to their Myspace demos and was interested in working with them. "It was just mind-blowing that he actually wanted to do it."

Tough said at that point they went full steam ahead and put all their efforts into making a great Kickstarter video. "And it definitely helped. It was put on the Kickstarter home page and they Tweeted about it and a lot of our friends donated, among others."

Once the campaign was over and they'd exceeded their intended $1,000 goal by more than half, they headed to Baltimore to record at Magpie Cage Studios with Robbins, who not only produced, engineered and mixed the album with them over seven days, but enlisted several of his own band members and even his wife to play on the disc along with guests like Office of Future Plans cellist Gordon Withers, who sits in with The Pauses this weekend.

The resulting instrumental embellishments (trumpet, cello, analog synths, whistles) bring a lushness to indietronic pop that's imbued with '90s alt-rock influences and trip-hop flavors. Tough leads the mix with dulcet-toned vocals that can be tantalizingly sweet and girlish or husky and seductive, but at all times warm and shaded with appealing vulnerability, her Rhodes arrangements and bass playing enhancing or winding around her piping melodies. Kupfer brings angular suppleness and grungy distortion on guitar, sometimes setting the tempo with strumming, plucking dissonant runs of notes that contrast against Tough's melodies, or brightening up the sonic textures with chiming footbells, ukulele, electro blips, glitches, whirls and whatever else he programs into the mix. Chase rounds out the sound with dynamic beat-keeping that presses forward with aggressive drive, eases into relaxed and airy grooves, rollicks and bounces then slows back down to subtle and simple, at all times tight, perfectly-paced, occasionally complex and augmented by triggered electronics and percussive flourishes. "He does more than a usual drummer does," Tough asserted.

The band's mature compositions stretch beyond the simple songcraft of traditional pop with unexpectedly intricate instrumental breakdowns, noisy electro synthesized explorations and lift-offs and a consistent use of opposing sonic themes — melody and dissonance, quiet and loud, cutesy playful and dark moody — all throughout the album, which closes with a hidden track, old school style.

The Pauses hooked up with Keith and Susie Ulrey at New Granada Records to promote and distribute A Cautionary Tale. "I just respect them, I think they're genuine people, they do so much for the music scene over there and also in Orlando, too," Kupfer said. "So it was really cool to be able to team up with them at the last minute and have them help us out with distribution. New Granada came along just in time."

Even though the Friday night show at New World is a soft release, the band will be offering hot-pressed copies of A Cautionary Tale for sale. "We just got them yesterday. We ambushed the UPS guy ..." Kupfer laughed.

"It was like Christmas. We literally ran down to him when he arrived," Tierney added.

"He was less excited than we were," said Kupfer.

"He was not excited," Tough agreed.

A Cautionary Tale will be released nationally via New Granada Records on March 8. - Creative Loafing

When you record a studio album in seven days, there's not much time to over-think things. And that's a good thing, at least in the case of The Pauses, the Orlando indie-rock threesome that celebrates the release of its full-length debut, "A Cautionary Tale," on Saturday at BackBooth.

The eight songs, as well as the ukulele-powered hidden track that closes the disc, were recorded in a burst over seven days this past summer with noted indie producer J. Robbins in Baltimore. Maybe it was the compressed time frame, but the results exude an impressive immediacy and cohesiveness that it's hard to imagine could have been improved with multiple Multi-instrumentalist Jason Kupfer, who teams in the band with singer-bassist Tierney Tough and drummer Nathan Chase, agrees.

"We've done a number of recordings at home studios with friends and unlimited amount of time, where you just sort of work forever on it," Kupfer says. "With this, we were challenging ourselves. We had seven days to get the album done and I think it worked out for the best.

"Tierney and I tend to just rework everything," he added. "We're just perfectionists and we'll rework things to death. This album would have never come out." If the music came together fairly efficiently, the band did take plenty of time conceiving and executing the CD packaging, a throwback to the wonderful bygone days when the cover really mattered.

In that spirit, "A Cautionary Tale" offers something for the eyes as well as the ears. The cover is a remarkable representation of a vintage Golden Books children's book, created by Chicago artist Travis Lampe. The detailed "book" opens to reveal a CD designed to resemble a 45-RPM record, complete with faux vinyl grooves.

Lampe, discovered by the band after a lengthy artist search that also considered Golden Books illustrators, offered the band about six designs. Ones that the band passed on for this CD are so good that they might resurface for some future project, Tough says, adding that

creative packaging is an important extra.

"With the way the music industry is now, with people downloading so much music, it's important to us to have a physical product that will entice people to buy it. It's really important to make it worth someone buying a physical copy of it." - Orlando Sentinel

The Pauses’ album release party (Jan. 8, Back Booth) was an outstanding production of rare elaborateness. A transformation more on par with theater than a rock concert, the stage was completely fashioned into a cozy vintage living room. Echoing the set design was the warmth and plush vibes of their sound, expanded greatly by the cello accompaniment of Gordon Withers. In fact, the performance was a properly realized showing for the long-awaited occasion. The Pauses have long been one of the city’s most finished, mature and clarified bands. For so many reasons, they should be Orlando’s next breakout indie band.

But now that they have a really strong record out – one that has the esteemed names of indie icon J. Robbins (producer) and Tampa’s reputable New Granada record label attached to it – they’ll hopefully get broader recognition, finally. If there’s an act that deserves it, it’s the Pauses. Just look at the how robust and tangible both this show and the album’s lovingly crafted packaging and art are. It’s illustrative of an invested band that has a meaningful, high-quality and high-value approach to presenting people with music. And that’s why there was a line of young fans waiting at the foot of the stage as soon as the house lights came on to get merch signed. - Orlando Weekly

First off, I have to confess that I picked up this CD simply because of its AMAZING cover, which is styled like an uber creepy Little Golden Book with illustrations by artist Travis Lampe (I've already picked out 10 things I need from his site). The disc itself even looks like a little 45! *squee*

Secondly - omg, you guys. I don't think I've fallen in love with an album at first listen like this since Rilo Kiley's The Execution of All Things. The Pauses have put together a simply stunning debut. From the synthy keyboard notes of "Beyond Bianca" to the sway-worthy heartbreak beats of "Pull the Pin", I adore every single goddamn thing about A Cautionary Tale. Lead singer and keyboardist Tierney Tough's throaty vocals are complemented by pretty melodic oohs and ahhs from multi-instrumented Jason Kupfer (guitar, keys, computerboard (!), and foot bells), and ably backed by Nathan Chase's drums and electronics.

The second track, "Go North", is like a song from my favorite 80s movie - its bouncy drums and bell-like plinks hover around soulmate lyrics heavy with emotion, but light enough to keep you smiling. "There's something | about you | It's unnerving | so, stay there." Next up, "Goodbye, Winthrope" is a deep instrumental bass and guitar tune that builds to a crescendo of pretty notes, then fades out just after 6 minutes - only to come back with a surprisingly sweet ukulele duet. "I know you belong to somebody new | but tonight, you belong to me."

"Hands Up" starts with a classical vibe, and fades almost seamlessly into "The Leap Year", which is a roller coaster of vocal highs and lows that show the full range of Tierney's talent - and overall, it's just really fucking pretty. It might even be the prettiest, most gut-wrenching song on the whole album: "We're not in love | We're just comparing." "Little Kids" picks up the poppy pace with a mix of styles, blending piano with pounding drums, and ending in trailing "oooooohs" that prep you for "The Migration", which is simply impossible not to jump up and down to. "And I can't | be what you want me to be | And I can't | see what you want me to see."

Broken lyrics that leave you raw run throughout the album, but what really draws you in is the POWER contained within - the raw, driving emotion that anthropomorphizes each tune. And lest you think this is a typical indie-rock album about love and loss, The Pauses throw in abrupt changes to the beat that shake you to the core for deep, soul-pleasing sound. I can't recommend it highly enough, and when they come to Seattle, you better believe I'll be in the front row! Go forth, buy, and please your ears. - Three Imaginary Girls

The Orlando Florida based three-piece The Pauses will be releasing their debut album entitled A Cautionary Tale on March 8th. The Pauses have a surprisingly well formed sound for a relatively new band. Its members, Tierney Tough, Jason Kupfer and Nathan Chase don’t pull any punches with their straightforward brand of indie rock. The band’s lead singer, Tierney Tough has a vocal style that bears a similarity to that of one of Canada’s leading ladies in the indie rock scene, Emily Haines of Metric. Don’t think so? Listen to the third cut off of the album, The Migration and you will be pleasantly reminded of a few tracks on Metric’s Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? album.

The album art which was done my Travis Lampe of Chicago may lull any potential listeners into a scene of childhood nostalgia. A Cautionary Tale cover depicts what looks like a re-envisioned interpretation of Random House’s Little Golden Books children series. The choice of a debut album cover in style that evokes childhood memories may be intended to create a pavlovian response for record store shoppers. So, if you find yourself reaching for A Cautionary Tale before bed just know that The Pauses have rung their bell and you came. Don’t feel bad though, because you will be listening to a diverse album with enough of familiar and original elements to keep you engaged for a long time to come.

This may be the first time you’ve heard of The Pauses but based on the quality of their first album it will definitely not be your last. - Indie Blog Shot

With tuneful and intelligent pop music that combines electronic and rock instrumentation in a warmly organic way, this Orlando trio is one of most fundamentally sound indie bands in Central Florida. But the fact that their members contribute tirelessly and selflessly to building the local scene makes them a local treasure.

- Orlando Weekly

Orlando's The Pauses have been rocking clubs in Central Florida for two years. So why is it they're just now getting around to releasing their first album?

In 2010, they traveled to Baltimore to record their new album with J. Robbins of Jawbox. The result is A Cautionary Tale, eight tracks of bouncing indie guitars, synths and Tierney Tough's breathy vocals. Guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Jason Kupfer and Nathan Chase spin the music into a fully realized sound that includes moments of "maturity, elegance and gravitas," writes Orlando Weekly.

Parts of the new album sound like Metric (Go North), others call to mind Aimee Mann (Pull The Pin), Fiona Apple (Hands Up) or Weezer's Pinkerton (Beyond Bianca). It's released on Tampa's New Granada Records; click here to download an mp3 of Go North.

On Friday, the Pauses will celebrate the release of A Cautionary Tale with a show at New World Brewery, alongside Sleepy Vikings and Rec Center. Doors open at 9 p.m.; tickets are $7 p.m. - Tampa Bay Times

Refreshingly low-key four-piece local act the Pauses aren’t splashed all over YouTube with phone-recorded live numbers, or blasting out a thousand MySpace friend requests every day, but a certain groundswell of affection for the electronic-pop group has grown with each performance, and deservedly so. When she’s not acting as the angel over Max Green’s shoulder in the Great Deceivers, another local band, singer Tierney Tough fronts the Pauses with a self-assured femininity that never ventures beyond its capacity. Tough’s supporting band is a guy-girl mélange of garage funk, which, combined with Tough’s Stevie Wonder-produced-by-Four Tet keyboard sensibility, keeps the melodies tight and the considerably weathered lyrics at the forefront where they belong. - Staff

Orange You Glad music festival is officially in business after last night’s kickoff party at Will’s. Bands from all over Florida as well as other states are participating in this first time ever event in an effort to offer something new and dare I say a bit more fringy than the FMF and AntiPop music festivals. Many folks were in attendance for the kickoff, which is a good indicator that people are down with the whole idea.

I arrived at the party in time to catch Florida “experimental/minimalist” band Viernes on stage. The live performance was a bit esoteric for me, but they had a decent sized group of appreciators. Next, the Athens, GA band Modern Skirts took the stage and our hearts with their catchy, well-constructed songs and excellent live performance. They will be playing tonight at the Social if you missed or want to catch them again. Local band The Pauses closed out the night with their fun blend of electronica infused indie rock. Tierney Tough, an OYG organizer and promoter and front woman for this band, offers vocal stylings that are like feathers on the ears. Very nice, indeed.

So far, TWO THUMBS UP! And for all that attend, thank you for continuing to support independent music artists. - Miriam Lorenzi

Orlando trio The Pauses' first and so far only album is 2011's J Robbins-produced A Cautionary Tale, and for a debut (or really just for any album), it's hella diverse. Some parts sound like the guitar-heavy indie rock of Helium, others sound like the keyboard-led indie pop of Mates of State, and others sound like St. Vincent's wacky art pop. Surprisingly, it all works. And even more surprisingly, an album this well executed has gone overlooked for three years. Hopefully it doesn't stay that way much longer. - BrooklynVegan

Orlando's indie stalwarts the Pauses are in the final stretch of an Indiegogo campaign to fund the recording of their second album. The band's had a great year so far – touring, playing with Weezer and releasing a new cassette – but they're looking to release their new work on LP and just need a last lil' nudge.

Pauses frontperson Tierney Tough explained to the Weekly: "We've had so many wonderful contributions, and have made enough for PR, manufacturing, distro and art, but still need a little bit more to take care of all of the other pesky requirements of making a record."

The Pauses' Indiegogo fundraising page can be found here with all of the details on the project and the rewards you may reap for contributing. In the meantime, watch this video below.

https://vimeo.com/239752608 - Orlando Weekly

Scheduling a show on Friday the 13th could maybe be seen as inviting some form of minor misfortune, but Pauses frontperson Tierney Tough can be forgiven for not being able to predict Blackstar’s implosion and the subsequent scramble to find a new venue. All’s well that ends well, because the local indie all-stars will be celebrating the release of their new album, Unbuilding, appropriately at Park Ave CDs. Opening the night is J. Robbins, producer of Unbuilding and an underground icon, best known as frontman of the mighty Jawbox (and lest we forget, member of D.C. hardcore legends Government Issue). Additionally, the Pauses are heading out on some lengthy tours so this might be your last chance to see them live in the City Beautiful for a good bit. Come out, buy records and support some local titans. - Orlando Weekly