Search - Saving Graces :: Outside Guiding Lights

Ready for a crash course in Pop? The Saving Graces are ready to give it to you. Led by singer/songwriter Michael Slawter, this Winston-Salem, N.C.-based combo writes shimmering and brainy tunes in the finest tradition of American power-pop, earning them comparisons to The Plimsouls and The Records. A veteran of the North Carolina music scene, Slawter last fronted theshort-lived pop/punk quartet Neidermeyer. The band's sole recorded offering, "For Those About to Pop" won them 2001 pop-rock album of the year honors from The Winston-Salem Journal. In the fall of 2002, the embryonic band headed into the studio with respected Australian musician d.Henry Fenton and longtime Winston-Salem scenester Britt "Snuzz" Uzell. The end product, "TheseStars Are For You," was released by respected Portland, Oregon indie the Paisley Pop label to almost unanimous critical acclaim. Over five songs, "These Stars Are For You" effortlessly blended 60s-vintage Britpop ("The Things that Make You Strange"), bouncy NewWave-style rock ("Idiot Proof") and gorgeous balladry ("Sad GoldenWaves Goodbye."). Now, on their first full-length LP, Slawter, bassist Drew Jenkins and drummer John Holoman upped the ante to produce "Outside Guiding Lights". Joined by veteran producerJamie Hoover (Spongetones, Van Deleckis), the 11-song collectionpresents a fuller picture of Slawter's songwriting capabilities, veeringfrom the energetic, Buzzcocks-inflected "Giving Up The Ghost," to thelovely sturm und jangle of "Southern Gothic Sound," to the deeply personal meditation that is "Why Don't You Cry."