Point Juncture, WA

For five years Point Juncture has been a collaboration between four Portland, OR. songwriters, instrumentalists, recording engineers, and friends: Amanda Spring (vocals, drums) Victor Nash (keyboards, vocals) Skyler Norwood (guitar, vibraphone) and Wilson Vediner (guitar). Five years is middle age for a band but this one has aged well, having toured the country year after year and played with such like minded bands as Stereolab, Britt Daniel of Spoon, Dirty Three, Aloha, 31 Knots, Mates of State, Viva Voce... On this, their 3rd self-release they have put all their heads together, their resources and all the scientific know-how that comes from playing collectively in over a Bazillion bands in order to make a record that can describe what Portland has seen all along in their live show and their steadily growing recorded output.

"This band started as something we wanted to do at house parties and as a response to the growing underground music scene around Portland. When we were getting started we wanted to have something to flush all of our inspirations and frustrations into, not a business or something too precious to get a little rough around the edges from time to time. Something we could love but also let have a life of it's own. Portland has really worked with us towards that goal. The support we’ve gotten from this small but super talented music community has been overwhelming. No where but Portland could we take two years between releases and still get the kind of support we’ve had so far in the making of our newest record. People seem to appreciate what we do even when it’s under the banner of one of our many side projects, cassette only releases of our friends music, or in the form of band member and Producer/Engineer Skyler Norwood’s work with Portland’s best bands (Talkdemonic, Horse Feathers, Blind Pilot)."

Heart To Elk (September 2008) Homemade

Heart To Elk represents a significant musical progression, even for a group that has had its shit together pretty well to begin with. -Casey Jarman (Willamette Week)

After Mama Auto Boss (2005) was completed we wanted to dig in and make something equally as varied but also to find new patterns to work from. We decided to spend some time in our home studio and try and record it ourselves. Our time in Skyler’s Miracle Lake studio had been very successful but time constraints hadn’t allowed us to try some of the weirder options that presented themselves. So in between tours, projects with other bands, bike rides, and an unhealthy amount of David Lynch on dvd we started running cable through windows to record amps in stairwells and building a diy plate reverb in the garage. Our house turned into a laboratory with stomp boxes on every surface and microphones in every corner. What came out the other end were 13 songs with almost as many disparate sounds behind them. Noise pasted haphazardly on noise right beside an orchestra sounding naturally in harmony. Nothing was sacred, everything went under the knife and we piled up finished tracks with only a theory that so many concepts of structure and arrangement could work together under the flag of a rock and roll album. 

As the recording progressed we had a steady stream of Portland's finest audio engineers stop by and oversee our chaotic basement project.  Kendra Lynn (Jackpot! Studios), Jason Powers (Type Foundry), Sam Schauer (Modernstate), all gave advice, made mixes, and petted our cat for as long as they could stand him.  We were lucky enough to have Doug Jenkins (Portland Cello Project) and Sly Pig (Blue Cranes) play Cello and Saxophone on several songs, and when there we're no more songs that could support a second or third layer of tambourine we took the whole thing to John Askew (Tracker, Film Guerrero) and begged him to make sense out of it for us.  Through the course of this band, there are a handfull of records that we always go back to for inspiration.  Nearly perfect records like Yo La Tengo's I Can Hear The Heart Beating as One, and Solid Guild by The Joggers.  John Askew's Record, Blankets is one of those works so important to us, not just for it's amazing compositions and recordings, but also for the unbelievably cool idea that you can make a soundtrack to something as self-sufficient as a graphic novel.  When John offered to work on Heart To Elk with us, we jumped at the opportunity.  At his studio, Scenic Burrows, we waded hip deep through feedback guitar and Bari sax tape-loops , cutting songs and adding to others, until what seemed like a record was exposed.  At last when we were confident with what we had recorded we booked time at Tucker Martine's Flora Studios and began to mix. 

Heart To Elk will be released February 10th 2009 by Mt. Fuji Records.  Distribution by Lumberjack/Mordam. Until the national release date we'll be selling them through our website and at our Portland Cd release show November 20th at Holocene.
www.pointjuncturewa.com
www.myspace.com/ptjuncturewa
www.mtfujirecords.com

Point Juncture WA – Heart to Elk

1. Rocks and Sand 3:06
2. Once Tasted Ever Wanted 4:02
3. New Machine 3:58
4. Biathalon 3:39
5. Sioux Arrow 5:35
6. Kings Part II 3:47
7. The Kings Were Good 2:26
8. Sick On Sugar 2:45
9. Melon Bird 5:42
10. Stray Bear 3:24
11 . Fleet and Small 4:07
12. Viking Mission to Mars 2:12
13. The Easy Winners 4:50



By Point Juncture WA Amanda Spring, Wilson Vediner, Victor Nash, Skyler Norwood, Andy Combs, and Jesse Studenberg. With Sly Pig, Bruce Withycombe, Doug Jenkins, and Ashley Ahle. Home recorded at A/S/P/S then mixed at Flora by John Askew. Mastered by Jon Cohrs. Animal drawings by Amanda. Photo By Jason Quigley. Letterpress and design by Aaron Miller and Cassie Neth.


Thanks David Vediner, Jeremy Hadley, John Askew, Jon Cohrs, Aaron and Cassie, Chris Funk, Jack Norwood, Vediner and Barker Clan, Taylor Clark, Sam Schauer, Jason Powers, Cindy Spring, Isamu Jordan, Tucker Martine, Peter Walters, Kelly Nash Straub, Marcus, Bernadette and Glen, Ryan Niswonger, Alisa Bones, Steve + Brooke, Records by Mail, the Aladdin Theater, Velella Velella, Brett Beach, David and Maree, Rebecca Napcore.