By Charlie Maybee
The Raleigh Americana band known as The One Eighties (a duo project devised by Autumn Brand and Daniel Cook after their previous band, New Reveille, dissolved) have released their moody debut single “Dead Star Light”, which combines folk harmonies with a more cinematic scope using synthesizers and strings to expand their reach.
With this new song, the duo treads new, but familiar ground. “We didn’t know what would become of the music we had been tirelessly working on for what we thought would be the next New Reveille album, but we knew we had something there and we weren’t about to stop writing,” says singer Brand.
There are clear blues influences throughout the song, the production gives it a modern twist that feels large and ethereal. It verges on psychedelic territory but doesn’t quite cross the threshold as it holds onto its folk roots. For fans of The Civil Wars, this will be a must-listen that sports swelling vocals and violin, and just enough electric drive in the guitar to keep you captivated. It is melancholy, but endlessly hopeful as they “hold on to a ghost” – a nice homage and eulogy for their previous musical life as they embark into something new.
When it came to finding a name for this new venture, Cook posed the question, “What better way to memorialize our indecisiveness than to call ourselves The One Eighties?” as they were considering this game changing decision. “We decided we wanted to reserve the right to change course at any time and do a complete 180 if we so choose. It’s a statement that nobody is just one thing”.
“Dead Star Light” is available on major streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud. Find this and more great music on the Alchemical Records Multigenre Mixture playlist on Spotify and YouTube.
Charlie Maybee is a dancer, musician, educator, and writer based in Charleston, South Carolina who currently teaches with the Dance Program at the College of Charleston. His primary work as an artist is with his performing collective, Polymath Performance Project, through which he makes interdisciplinary performance art that centers tap dance as the primary medium of expression and research. He also currently plays rhythm guitar for the Charleston-based punk band, Anergy, and releases music as a solo artist under the name Nox Eterna.
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Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
