Bay Area-based trio The Echo Falls is not the average band. Sounding like a mix of Cat Stevens, Gary Jules and Fleet Foxes, the folksy vibe of The Echo Falls self titled debut is reminiscent of Vietnam-era protest music. Front man Alex Mandel explicitly states, " My expectations are low and I don't want to be a rock star." A new breed of DIY rock is emerging everywhere, and more artists like The Echo Falls are making music to make music, albeit money or fame.
While taking a break from his day job at Pixar, Alex Mandel waxed ecstatic about Chopin, family, and Harvey Pekar.
"This album is about family. It's about falling in love, having children and losing touch with friends, much like Harvey Pekar, " says the married father of two. Admiring the likes of the auto-biographical American Splendor series written by Harvey Pekar, Mandel states, "I came to realize that this is what's going on in his [Pekar's] life; he's sharing it and that's his life," as reasoning behind the concept of the new Echo Falls self titled album.
Relaxed and nonchalant, Alex Mandel's soothing lyrics span the lot of life, love and losing touch with reality. "Music isn't innocent. I needed to find my own style, and maybe someone out there could relate to me. I grew up listening to Chopin, Hendrix, Stevens, and Dylan, " Mandel explains when asked how the album was influenced by his life.
As for the design of the album cover, he continues, "We live in a visual culture, and I wanted the album cover to be simple, yet abstract. A lot of salt went into designing a simple, yet abstract cover."
The Echo Falls self titled album was meant to be listened to as an album, each song interlaced with the others, to form a progression of life experiences. "That's on great thing about vinyl," Mandel adds, "you can listen to an entire album without the songs getting lost in a sea of other songs, like on an Ipod. There is also the visual aspect of a record. A record is bigger, symbolic."
When it comes to the music, the end product of The Echo Falls is much like the influences and contemporaries that Mandel favors, like Gary Jules, Fleet Foxes, Elizabeth Cotton, and Bon Iver. Throughout the album, the use of double bass, double drums, and acoustic guitar embody the feel of a time that has long since past. Songs like "Hummingbird" and "Road to Parnassus" showcase the true essence of what today's indie folk rock has to offer.
Comprised of Alex Mandel on vocals, guitar, David Brandt on drums, vibraphone, vocals, and David Arend on double bass, The Echo Falls self titled debut will be released in November.
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