Album Notes

Northampton is an interesting place. Interesting things happen there. Rednecks sip their coffee with Unitarians. The bearded hippies kiss on the bearded punks, the wiccan soccer moms knit with queer anarchists and the queer anarchists share their popcorn with the chief of police. All these different people rubbing up against each other, buying the same burritos. It gets hard to remember what you’re supposed to believe, what you’re supposed to listen to, what kind of music you're supposed to play. It all kind of squishes together and comes out every which way. It's really pretty wonderful.

Up from out of this crazy stew pop Our Lady of Bells, bearing their cross-pollinated bouquet of country rock, folk, indie and chamber pop. Their marvelous experiment began in late 2004 when songwriter and guitarist Jules Gimbrone was shopping around for a new sound and found drummer John Berry fresh off the boat from Rhode Island with chops like you read about. Not long after, Jules found singer and guitarist Geoff Rice impersonating Fred Schneider at the local VFW and invited him to come and play. The newly formed trio hunkered down in Jules' moldy country basement, taking a couple of months to get a handful of brand new songs ready for public consumption. They starting playing hometown shows and self produced a four-song EP in the winter of '05.

People were impressed. Friends told friends, the crowds started getting bigger and the gig radius started expanding. Cambridge and Boston. Portsmouth New Hampshire and Portland Maine. Triumphant appearances in Manhattan and Brooklyn. New songs were coming fast and furious, and Christmastime '05 saw the band recording once again. In the studio the sound expanded further with Geoff adding to his duties with piano and harmonica, Jules chiming in on mandolin and violin and a handful of friends on bass, cellos, violins, guitars and accordions. To help recreate the fullness of their new sound on stage, the band recruited Gregg Cornish on keyboards.

In April of 2006 the band unveiled their debut full-length album FORGETTING THE WAY HOME. These twelve tracks span the band's range of moods and styles, expanding the band's sound without losing the hauntingly spare quality for which they've become known. Home-brewed but not amateurish, professional but never bland, this is an excellent document of where the band finds itself at the moment, and more than likely contains a few clues as to where they're going next.

Our Lady of Bells is:
Jules Gimbrone - voice, guitar and mandolin
Geoff Rice - voice, guitar, harmonica and piano
John Berry - drums
Gregg Cornish - keys

info@ourladyofbells.com
www.ourladyofbells.com