Nominated for three 2006 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards: Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, & Best Folk/Americana Artist!
“The twosome's airy yet organic pop has a soul-tickling emotional weight that many bands would die for...romantic, dreamy, moving and flawlessly executed...few local acts have ever mustered such a commanding first step.” (Cincinnati CityBeat)
“each song is supported by expert arrangements and instrumentation...Even familiar themes like loneliness and love flourish with a new-found freshness.” (Performing Songwriter)
"Tasha and Justin Golden combine skillful, melodic instrumentation, intelligent but unassuming lyrics, and captivating vocals to make engaging indie pop on Lying Awake." (Paste Magazine)
"Check them out before they're on the cover of Rolling Stone." (Savannah Morning News)
Ellery, the husband-and-wife duo composed of Tasha and Justin Golden, has unleashed its Virt Records debut, Lying Awake. The album, produced by previous Grammy nominee Ric Hordinski (Over the Rhine, David Wilcox), showcases a band that, after five years of making music together, has finally found its musical center.
Tasha and Justin met while in college in Cincinnati, where their initial attempts at playing music together were more of an experiment than anything else. As the duo honed their craft, they dubbed themselves Dividing the Plunder and began performing locally. But, as it turned out, this wasn’t just the start of a musical partnership, as Justin and Tasha soon got married. Now, as husband and wife, the two began spending their weekends traveling and playing music for a living, while they spent their weekdays finishing up school. Within a year, they had put together what they still refer to as an ‘amateur recording’ that was originally intended to be just for a few friends. But, people kept requesting copies, and eventually, the duo decided to have it properly manufactured. Strong sales of the release and a string of sold-out shows convinced the duo to make music their full-time vocation, a decision which proved fruitful, given the warm reception of their ’03 release, The Ordinary.
The two were determined not to let the momentum fade. They began collaborating more, taking more risks with their approach to songwriting, and writing about their experiences and relationships, while trying to figure out how to translate those themes more authentically than they had before. Eventually, they began to feel as if they were heading in an entirely new direction. They were still playing a unique brand of acoustic alternative folk, and their songs still emitted a smart and soulful, infectious vibe that people had come to know them for, but there was something distinctly fresh and new about what they were dong. As a result, they decided the change needed to be recognized in some way. Thus, Ellery was born.
With a new moniker, the duo kicked off 2005 by releasing a new EP, Make Your Troubles Mine, which garnered tremendous critical acclaim in Ellery's home market, helping generate the interest of Virt Records, which signed Ellery in late '05. The duo returned to the studio with Ric Hordinski, adding five new tracks to the EP, with the full-length, Lying Awake, resulting in an undeniably catchy album, boasting an even more developed sound, along with the lyrical craftsmanship Ellery's fans have come to expect. All eleven songs were written by Tasha & Justin.
Lying Awake has earned Ellery strong recognition, including the 3 nominations in the 2006 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards. Ellery also scored the cover of CiN Weekly and headlined the popular WNKU Studio89 summer concert series. The album has also earend glowing reviews in such national publications as Paste and Performing Songwriter and first single, "Anna," is currently receiving airplay on AAA radio stations throughout the country.
You might think that two people who live and work together would desperately need some time apart, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. “Crazy as it sounds, Justin and I love being together,” says Tasha. “This is a tremendously exciting time for us. While we’ve been making music together for over five years, it’s been a very slow discovery of who we are and what it is that we do, where our center is musically. So, we definitely see this as a new beginning. It’s a new recording, with a new label, a new band name, an entirely new season for us.”
Read more...