Album Notes

GO BY TRAIN
IS
DAN BALMER g

CLAY GIBERSON keys

MICAH KASSEL d


Combining the polished and effortless guitar mastery of Dan Balmer, with the raw swagger and brash youth-electro of Clay Giberson and Micah Kassell, the only sensible choice is to GO BY TRAIN. The self-titled debut release from Portland, OR band GO BY TRAIN is jazz/fusion enough that Uncle Roy can sip his famous martinis to it, while cousin Fiona reminisces about those hazy days in Amsterdam's Red Light District to the trance-inducing sounds that are pure GBT. GO BY TRAIN'S mission is to subtly take over the jazz/creative music scene with a passive intensity and astute musicality that reek of the cool. A fan once said of GO BY TRAIN, "This is what the future should have sounded like"
Hindsight is always 20/20, friend.
GO BY TRAIN, that cathartic voice in this disappointing world.

The Oregonian says: .."The composers" "...like to snake simple melodies through a complex web of harmony and rhythm, sliding smoothly from the pocket to the outside. While Giberson manages multiple keyboards and Kassel's double sticking keeps it hot, Balmer's long lines glide, alternately languid and furious. Best of all his playing always lucid and phrased with emotion, is infused today with the ease of a man on top of the world."

The Willamette Week says: "Capable of great beauty" and "The band breaks into the first strains of a tasteful adult contemporary jazz number. Then something strange happens. What was nearly Muzak morphs into schizophrenic jazz fusion skronk as Balmer screws up his face and braces himself for the nails on chalkboard dissonance escaping his guitar. In a minute, he zigzags his way back to the tonic, and a palpable relief spreads through the room, followed quickly by applause. Balmer smiles and the doorman looks on in knowing appreciation."