Stephen Ashbrook: Press

STEPHEN ASHBROOK- WHITE BALLOONS- RUKA- This guy picked up stakes form his native Arizona and landed in the Pac NW, specifically Portland. With help from Pete Droge (who produced this) and Richmond Fontaine's Paul Brainard (who played pedal steel on one track) and a handful of other talented friends Ashbrook and his pals have allow the listeners to bask in a warm glow of superb songwriting and a genuine warmth all the way around. While it would be easy to classify this as singer-songwriter stuff there is so much more to the proceedings than a guy and his acoustic guitar. The lovely opener, "Carelessly", perfectly showcases Ashbook's singing and his guitar playing while "Geronimo" ups the rock ante bit , remind me a tad of Whiskeytown and the nearly bouncy "Barstar' adds a whole different element to it all. That is just the first 3 songs and there's 8 more to go. The dull blue record cover with the balloon drawing told me I was in for something boring and unimpressive but this is the furthest from that. I have to say, I'm impressed.
cheerrs.....tim

www.daggerzine.com

SONGWRITER
Stephen Ashbrook

Tempe, Ariz., transplant Stephen Ashbrook has the sun-baked, acoustic-based pop-rock charm of peers like the Gin Blossoms, mixed with a decidedly laidback Pacific Northwest vibe.

On his new album, “White Balloons,” the traveling troubadour has teamed with veteran songwriter and Thorns member Pete Droge to create a charmingly relaxed little masterpiece that draws on the warmth and strength of Ashbrook’s golden voice.

It’s hard not to be drawn into these songs –Ashbrook is equally adept at communicating relief and resignation, hitting gravelly pay dirt or falsetto notes of aching grace with a similar ease.

9:30 p.m. Friday, June 13, White Eagle, 836 N. Russell St., 503-282-6810, $10

Stephen Ashbrook releases 'White Balloons’
By Chris Hansen Orf, Get Out
June 4, 2008

With his new album, “White Balloons,” finished and a lengthy summer tour that kicks off this weekend in Tempe on tap, former Tempe singer/songwriter Stephen Ashbrook is trying to soak up as much down time in his adopted hometown of Portland, Ore., before hitting the road.

“My wife was kind of looking at me the other day and she’s like, 'Are you gonna work anytime soon?’ ” Ashbrook laughs. “I said, 'Oh you wait — I’ll be out of your hair in no time.’ ”

It has been six years since Ashbrook’s last studio CD, “American B-Sides,” was released. In that time the singer, whose solo happy hour shows at Long Wongs on Mill Avenue in the late ’90s and early 2000s are the stuff of Valley music legend, moved to Portland and established himself in the Pacific Northwest music scene, which led to a meeting with renowned Seattle singer/songwriter Pete Droge.

“Through some friends, a backing band that I had that also played with (Droge) I was able to get in and submit some songs to him,” says Ashbrook, who sent Droge four songs that ended up being on “White Balloons.” “He got back to me and said, 'Yeah, I really wanna (produce) it.’

“When we first sat down and he’s like, 'What do you want out of the record?’ I go, 'I want you to find me,’ ” Ashbrook says. “I said 'If I’m going off track I want you to pull me back.’ A lot of these songs we took all the way down to the roots and built them back up again.”

Ashbrook spent plenty of time at Droge’s home on Vashon Island in Washington, where the two would work on “White Balloons” early in the morning then take a break and “drink way too much coffee” and brainstorm on the songs. The leisurely atmosphere of the recording process made working on the record an easier experience than Ashbrook had been used too.

“I didn’t feel rushed at any given point, and that’s really how Pete works as well,” Ashbrook says. “It was fun and I really learned a lot.”

Fans of Ashbrook’s earlier recordings, which were often stripped down affairs, will marvel at the lush soundscapes that Ashbrook and Droge created for “White Balloons,” from the ethereal acoustic title track and gorgeous opening cut “Carelessly” to the Americana lilt of “Geronimo” to the pure pop of “21 Young,” making the new disc the best work of Ashbrook’s career.

“It was a totally different approach to record making than I’d had before,” Ashbrook says. “I wanted this record to be something that I am going to be proud of for years and years to come.

“For the first time I kind of felt like instead of just making a record, we were actually making art.”

Stephen Ashbrook "White Balloons" (Ruka Music, 2008)

Expecting to fly

His first album in some six years (fatherhood and serious throat surgery occurred in the interim, so we’ll let him off for now) Ashbrook is clearly in no rush, and so it proves as we make our way through this thoroughly impressive new collection.

Opener ‘Carelessly’ really encapsulates what Ashbrook does best. Warm, believable, almost resigned vocals swept across swirling and atmospheric, yet simple arrangements. It’s a song bettered only by the glorious title-track, a beautiful, brooding moment with echoes of crying lap-steel in the mix, and some implied darkness amongst the intermittent light (I don’t know if this will comfort you/If it hurts then it’s supposed to).

Elsewhere some Josh Rouse-alike melodies appear (‘Geronimo’, ‘You are Here’ particularly), and in fact at times ‘White Balloons’ feels like a younger sibling to Rouse’s ‘Nashville’ album only in that it takes a very similar route. That of strong, concise acoustic pop songs with a naturally fitting country/folk gloss, strong on languid melody, atmosphere & accessibility.

The quality control on ‘White Balloons’ barely dips for a moment. Strongly and sympathetically produced throughout, giving the whole record a simply beautiful atmosphere of space, calm and warmth with Ashbrook’s voice and acoustic upfront.

Another six years will be too long to wait for some more, because ‘White Balloons’ is a complete triumph.


Date review added: Thursday, May 08, 2008
Reviewer: Ian Fildes
Reviewers Rating: 8 out of 10