Stereoma

Stereoma frontman Nick Curran took over a year to pen the lyrics on his band’s debut, I Will Be Your Friend, writing as an escape from various hardships life had thrown his way. The deliciously alternative six-track EP dropped late June of this year; Curran had formed the band only a few months before. Opening track “Turnaround Kid” would have surely secured a rotating spot on your Walkman during a long road trip in the ’90s; elsewhere, “Thought You Should Know” (the song Curran tells us is his favorite track of the set) relies heavily on keys and has spectacular nods to of one his greatest musical influences U2. Below, download “Thought You Should Know” and stream “Ark,” and catch Stereoma live at Harrisburg’s Little Amps on September 27, their hometown’s Chameleon Club on October 16, and celebrating Halloween at New York City’s LIT Lounge. - The Key - WXPN

This may be just the beginning for indie rock band STEREOMA from Lancaster PA, but the recently released EP ‘I Will Be Your Friend’ is indeed an instantly captivating and auspicious debut, from the triumphant guitar/synth barrage of "Turnaround Kid" to the darkly introspective title-track at album’s end, this is a wholly inspired work of soul-scarred defiance and resolute optimism that tugs at the senses and knows how to rock.

The band’s moniker (transliterated from Greek Lexicon, meaning firmness, steadfastness) seems suitable as an encapsulating theme for a project with deeply intimate parallels to the band’s founder – songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Nick Curran. For the last ten years he’s managed to persevere through several life-altering personal adversities, in tandem with the already tenuous struggle of an indie musician/songwriter trying to find his way, and ultimately you have an integral gestation period for a body of songs revelatory in tone. It seems the cycle of life and art are inextricably intertwined, and could we really have it any other way ?

This record is profoundly reflective without being self-indulgent, with an underlying message of hope bouyed by music that’s infectious even in it’s quietest moments, and it has given me some chills for it’s artistic resemblance to one of my favorite debut albums of all time, the 1986 LP ‘Private Revolution’ from World Party [Kurt Wallinger].

I had the good fortune of gleaning some further insight and info from the creative mind behind STEREOMA, who genuinely appears to be quite friendly, and so what follows is my Q & A session with Nick Curran …
ROKLINE: Can you give us a brief history or some insight into the genesis of Stereoma ? It’s pretty apparent listening to this Debut EP that you’re someone who knows their way around penning songs and recording an album.

STEREOMA: Thanks for the compliment. That’s really nice. Before Stereoma there wasn’t much going in my life musically. I had a band called Selah.selah and before that i was in a band called missing pilots but I had sort of put all that aside for reasons that i will probably be analyzing for years to come. When it came to writing this album, I’m not sure why i started writing again except that my wife really encouraged me to. we’ve been through a lot – A lot of tragedies and health issues. With all of that happening music became a welcome escape. I was (and still am) dealing with a lot of anger and angst from all the trauma of the past decade or so, let alone this past year, and I just poured all of that into these songs, as well as some others that didn’t make it. I really tried to focus on the flow from song to song and keeping a nice energy throughout. Hopefully that shines through.

ROKLINE: Who do you cite as major musical influences past & present, and who do you credit most, if anyone, with shaping you as a songwriter or informing STEREOMA’s music ?

STEREOMA: Growing up my dad played a lot of Pink Floyd, Zeppelin and Springsteen and then I got into bands like REM and The Cure, the whole grunge thing and then shoegaze. Lately I’ve gone back to the classics – the Beatles, Stones, and a lot of roots and americana type stuff. My parents really did have a big influence on me musically. We had my mom’s piano growing up and I was playing that as a toddler, and you know, always making up songs. I always had my headphones on and have always been fascinated with sound. Aside from that, My bandmates have always influenced my songwriting, even if it was like “yeah let’s not do that”. Maybe knowing what not do is just as valuable as knowing what you should be doing for a song. Since I did this EP on my own, I would kind of imagine the voices of my musician friends giving direction to a certain part of a song or in some cases I’d play a part the way that I thought maybe so and so would do it, and I think it turned out sounding less like a solo record because of that.

ROKLINE: Is there a running theme or narrative to the “I Will Be Your Friend” EP you’d care to share? There’s clearly a lot of thought put into the lyrics throughout …

STEREOMA: For me, it’s extremely reflective and kind of anxious, but maybe that’s just me. I’m in a constant state of alert and near panic, so I probably just color all of my experiences through that lens. But at it’s core the EP is like an outstretched hand. Like yeah, I know stuff has been rough for us all and the world can be brutal, but the least we can do is share and commiserate, if not rise above it or something. I am pretty extreme in all respects and a very intense person. This EP was as much a letter to myself as it was to everyone I know and love. There’s a lot of apocalyptic imagery here and there, and then there are the more introspective songs. To me it all makes sense together. As far as a theme goes, I don’t know. If people find one, that’s great. I’d love to know what it is, haha.

ROKLINE: What’s your favorite song on the EP and why ?

STEREOMA: Well “Turnaround Kid” really set the bar for the whole EP and I ended up choosing the songs that I did based off of that. It’s more or less me trying to convince myself and others that things are gonna turn out alright. But my favorite track is probably “Thought You Should Know”. It was the last song that I wrote for the EP and the chord/key changes still even surprise me sometimes when I’m able to listen to it in a very detached manner. But on the whole I’m really happy with all of it, which is a first for me.

ROKLINE: Is there anything that you want people to know about Stereoma?

STEREOMA: I would love to make music that makes people think that I’m in their head – that I’ve gone through or am going through whatever they are – wherever they are. I want to be someone’s escape and meditation. To write songs that people turn to when the lights seem to have gone out and you’re alone with your thoughts for better or worse. Or just to have everyone play “Thought You Should Know” during the apocalypse. I don’t know if I’ve written those songs yet but I hope to. That would be the greatest honor. I want people to feel like I’m their friend. You asked about the theme of the EP and maybe thats it.

ROKLINE: What’s next for STEREOMA in terms of shows, overall gameplan, or the foreseeable future ?

STEREOMA: I do want to get out and play shows – do a little tour … especially in the cities and towns that have shown the most support. We’ve just gone through a couple of lineup changes so right now we are playing catch up in that regard before our next few shows. (Legendary DOBBS Sept. 26th, Philadelphia, PA; Sept. 27 @ Little Amps in Harrisburg, PA ; Oct. 16th @ Lizard Lounge, Lancaster, PA ; Oct 31 @ Lit Lounge, New York, NY)

I plan on doing this as long as i can and just building and building on whatever small achievements we are able to make. I want to expand my “catalog”, you know ? So really, the next big thing as far as I’m concerned is a new record, possibly a full length (LP). I’m writing at a ferocious pace right now and I’m really excited for the direction the songs are heading in, and very happy with the band overall. Since I now have a band there will likely be a lot more involvement from them as far as writing parts and recording them. They’re my best friends in the world. If nothing else, we are doing what we love most and doing it together, and there’s no greater feeling than that. - Rokline Magazine

Shimmering guitars, crash heavy, tasty synth lines and killer Choruses.

STEREOMA are one of few bands that sound like they are doing it right with this E.P. ‘I Will Be Your Friend‘. The first song Turnaround Kid kicks off to a head bobing instrumental intro with reverbed synths all over the place, similar soundings to the band White Lies. The rest of the song is a very standard pop structure but with a killer chorus. Being pedal obsessed my main point of interest of this song is the lead guitar, clean as but with effects like no bodies business, if the guitarist does the read this, would you be kind enough to share the pedal secrets? This single is the only real song that sticks out for me throughout this EP, but I’m sure if I went to go see them live they would blow my mind and would love them forever more, “After all, STEREOMA just wants to be everyone’s friend”

Im sure they do have gigs coming up, you just need to look a bit harder than I did.

Overall 7/10 – Good Clean Post-Rock

If your fans of Weezer, MGMT, U2, Tom Petty and Arcade Fire, this EP is for you. - Under A Rock

Had it on repeat for hours when traveling a few weeks ago, and I still cannot get enough of this track!

Stereoma is Nick Curran [vox/guitars/keys], Brad Topping [guitars/keys], Doug Hynes [guitars/keys], Josh Wood [drums] and Rob Nye [bass]. The indie-rock band from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, recently released their debut EP I Will Be You Friend and a few weeks ago I stumbled upon a really marvelous song I wanna share with you today.

Thought You Should Know is one of six tracks featured on I Will Be Your Friend, listen to it above. The set was self-released on June 24, 2014 and is available to buy digitally (in any possible format) from Stereoma’s Bandcamp, and they just wanna have one Dollar (!) for it. You can download Thought You Should Know for free from the band’s Soundcloud, and if you take a closer look, you’ll also find some more EP tracks to download for free.

I Will Be Your Friend was recorded in January 2014. All songs are written by the band’s Nicholas O. Curran. The EP is streaming in its entirety below (via Bandcamp). - Music Pickings