Grand Hallway

"Winter Creatures," the third album by Seattle band Grand Hallway, was recorded over several weekend sessions this past winter at Scenic Burrows in Portland, Oregon. The band holed up in the tiny studio (where the latest albums by Dodos, Castanets, Richmond Fontaine, and the soundtrack of “Portlandia” were also recorded) with producer Cory Gray over many rain and snow filled days, and worked into the wee hours of the morning fueled by endless cups of coffee. Sometime before sunrise each night, they would retire with a bottle of whiskey to sneak in a game of Baseball Stars 2 on NES and maybe sleep for a couple hours in the apartment (a former dentist’s office) right above the studio.

The relaxed atmosphere belied the frantic productivity of the recording sessions (a couple of the songs were written entirely in the studio, mere moments before they were committed to tape), and provided a welcome contrast to the heaviness of the past year which inspired the album. The illness and death of chief songwriter Tomo Nakayama’s grandparents, the birth of guitarist Jeramy Koepping’s baby, and the closing of the beloved Seattle landmark Neptune theater (where Nakayama worked for the past decade), were just a few of the events that informed the writing of "Winter Creatures'" nine songs, which explore themes of life cycles, mortality, and family.

After the release of 2009's critically lauded Promenade (which received airplay from NPR, KEXP, and The Current, and features from Amazon, City Arts, and numerous blogs), and constant touring including a successful stints at SXSW, CMJ, Bumbershoot, and Capitol Hill Block Party, Grand Hallway endured several lineup changes and turned their focus full-force back to songwriting. Aided by Scenic Burrows’ (and its sibling Type Foundry’s) vast collection of unique instruments such as pump organ, synthesizers, tack piano, and tympani, Nakayama and company found themselves immersing themselves in a world of sound far beyond the chamber-pop genre which came to define their last record. The band once known for collaborating with a 50 piece orchestra and children's choir chose this time to deliberately shrink in numbers and distill their sound into its bare essence.

Grand Hallway "Winter Creatures" due out 6/10/11 on Porchlight Records.