Presents For Sally

Let it be said that Presents For Sally is a real gift. A gift that will stay close to your heart and ears for many, many years to come. A real gem amongst the many flash in the pans clamoring for your listening attention.

Presents For Sally are husband and wife team Matt and Anna Etherton, joined by drummer Luke Feierabend who also sorts out effects and other accompanying noises. Located just outside the seaport city of Bristol, England, you will often find them playing and carousing in town, often with Bristol’s The Fauns.

Though Matt is originally from Maidstone, Kent, he eventually moved to Glastonbury where he met Anna. Anna had decided that she wanted to establish a band so she put an ad up in a local Glastonbury record shop seeking a guitarist. Matt got the gig and the band was called Tilted Exposure which sounded more like an early Hole and PJ Harvey hybrid. As time went along, Anna and Matt worked on their own musical ideas and demos, one of which was to become their debut single, “Catch Your Fall” which was one of their works that got them recognition to a niche of Shoegazers around the world.

Presents For Sally - "Catch Your Fall" 7" vinyl

We were also gifted with Presents For Sally when they released a track on the 2008 compilation The Secret Garden Vol 1: (Nu-gaze: The New Wave of Shoegaze) which was released on Geoff Barrow’s Invada Records label. Yes, folks, Geoff Barrow from the renowned Bristol Trip-Hop innovators, Portishead. Their track “Flowers Falling Sideways” was one of the highlights of the album which is very reminiscent of the sweet blissful drones of those other great British Shoegazers, Air Formation. You will find them nestled snuggly amongst other such Nu-Gaze favorites as Thought Forms , 93MillionMilesFromTheSun, Rumskib, Malory, Kyte, Soundpool, Fleeting Joys, The Fauns, Butterfly Explosion, Orange Yellow Red, Amusement Parks On Fire and Ulrich Schnauss. A collection that helped to make all of these names familiar to the world of Nu-Gaze.

Presents For Sally - "A Touch Of Joy, A Touch Of Sadness"

Along the way, there were a series of live appearances, the official 7″ vinyl single release of “Catch Your Fall” backed with “Smooch”, lots of thoughtful and careful writing, recording and mixing. Eventually, November 2010 brought us the release of Presents For Sally’s debut full length album, A Touch Of Joy, A Touch Of Sadness on Michael Savage’s of The Fauns Laserghost Records.

Having made an impression within the Shoegaze community, don’t be fooled by thinking that this is the only sound the band chooses to work with. Between the three of them, they bring a whole host of interests and influences which can be heard in their various selections throughout the album. Bits and pieces of Grunge, Shoegaze, Madchester, Hip Hop, Punk and Post Rock can all be found throughout the disc yet in a very complementary and cohesive manner which proves to us that Presents For Sally have their own unique sound they can proudly call their own.

It’s not just the music that has garnered the attention of many but also their gorgeous bright and colorful cover art which is bound to catch the eye of anyone strolling through the aisles of their local record shops or online vendors. The kind you intentionally place in the front of your own collection just to decorate your humblest of abodes. Credit goes to Anna for the arrangement and designs and Luke took the photographs. The beautiful candy colors reveal the playful innocence and lush washes of what you will hear inside.

Hoping to be an active part of the upcoming Record Store Day this April, Presents For Sally are putting their efforts together to release a one off single. Time and funds are of the essence so we shall have to see. A couple years ago the band released a CD single for the event and appreciated being able to be a part of the whole experience.

Other possibilities in the works; again, depending mostly on funds; is a 7″ vinyl release featuring one of the 7 or 8 new tracks they’ve got stashed away and hopefully a 12″ EP of the title song from “A Touch Of Joy, A Touch Of Sadness” with 3 of their newer tracks.

On the tour front, Presents For Sally are in the process of rehearsing live shows and hoping to broaden their reach. Wanting to fill out their sound, they are looking to expand to a full band. This will allow them to abandon some of the backing tracks they’ve previously used for live shows and reserving them for cool beefed up effects such as backwards guitars and various washes. Depending less on backing tracks, they expect their live performances to have a much rawer sound. They also plan to have more input from the entire band with writing for the new album. Could we hear a whole new sound from Presents For Sally? You’ll just have to stay tuned to Air Atlantic Underground Radio and stay current with the band to find out.

In the meantime, Presents For Sally has provided the listeners of Air Atlantic Underground Radio and the readers of the Air Atlantic Underground website the distinct honor of obtaining free downloads of several of their new songs. These are all exclusive presents for you from Presents For Sally and Air Atlantic Underground Radio.

Presents from Presents For Sally:
Presents For Sally – (Promo Demo B Side) – A Different Kind Of Crazy (An Air Atlantic Underground Radio Exclusive!)
Presents For Sally – (Promo B Side) – Three (An Air Atlantic Underground Radio Exlusive!)
Presents For Sally – (Brand New Demo) – Needing You More (An Air Atlantic Underground Radio Exclusive!)

To get polished up and completed official releases from Presents For Sally, below you will find links to various vendors that sell Presents For Sally CDs, vinyl and digital MP3s. Listed also are a few locations where you can find Presents For Sally around the net. Go ‘Like’ and befriend them to keep up with the latest updates and be the first to find out about their new album, currently in production. At the moment, all Presents For Sally products have been limited to UK releases but easy enough to procure from other parts of the world. (Hint: look below.) That may well change very soon as the band are currently talking with a few distributors hoping to put out a few US releases.

Presents For Sally on MySpace
Presents For Sally Facebook page (Go ‘Like’ and say ‘Hi’)
Presents For Sally on Soundclound
Presents For Sally shop
Presents For Sally – A Touch of Joy, a Touch of Sadness MP3s via Amazon
Presents For Sally CD via Amazon UK
Presents For Sally on iTunes

Jaguar

PS: To date, Presents For Sally are the winners of the Best of 2010 on Air Atlantic Underground Radio poll. This poll is probably still open so go place your votes.