Left and Right, “Virginia Settlement”

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Charlottesville's Left and Right are all fired up for their hometown show with The Men this upcoming Monday, May 27 at Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, as they premiere the their righteous homestate ode, “Virginia Settlement”. Found off their just released 93 EP , the quartet of Phil Dameron, Daniel Merchant, Andrew Abbot and Zak Krone try on the loose-fit styles of thrift store flannel stitched with the convincing vindication of early 90s alternative rock. Honing the sound of that era's expressionistic slacker guitar, the band touts the EP as their first release-“recorded in a building we don't live in”. Making the jump of recording at White Star Sound instead of home, it proves to be indicative of a larger growth that the band shared with us in the following statement:

“Virginia Settlement' came along at a pretty crucial moment for our band, right about when we decided this is how we're going to spend the next few years of our lives. We're from a small but gorgeous college-town in the heart of Virginia, with an art scene above its pay grade. We all went to college and love the people here, but realized over time that we we're stuck in a velvet rut of sorts and need to leave. Come September we'll be based in Philadelphia. We're done incubating in Virginia, figuring out what kind of band we want to be, and we're ready to just show people. That's essentially where our minds were when this song was written.”

As the EP's opener, the group's aforementioned “velvet rut” is described in terms of college town comforts. “Virginia Settlement” presents a scene that describes the jealous and the settled kicking at the local dives, “drinking himself under the table top”. The song of searching for systems of support within a scene well worn hints at the exodus to the new addresses of Philadelphia. Daniel and Phil grip the chords with effects and pedals tuned to create screams of a mighty, unbound wanderlust, crying to break out of the home scene. The boredom of familiar worlds where things are “still the same”, to the dissatisfied, “these Virginia settlements are the worst I've seen”, are still laced with the chance of new hope and possible oppurtunities. Left and Right reaches out to the downcast, the “young, dumb and under paid” with a Tony Robbins self-worth seminar's sized encouragement of, “you're young, fun, and full in every way”. In resettling away from the frustrating acquiescence of home; these four pilgrims continue the movement to reinstate the 1993 ethic for 2013's current era obsessed with Generation X memories.

Left and Rigtht's 93 EP is available now via Bandcamp.

Tour dates:

May
27 Charlottesville, VA – Tea Bazaar with The Men and Nurse Beach

June
06 Frederick, MD – The Rat's Nest in
13 PIttsburgh, PA – House Show in
14 Kent, OH – Stone Tavern
15 Cleveland, OH – Now That's Class with Hausu and Black Puddle Noise
16 Columbus, OH – The Tree Bar

28 Charlottesville, VA – Tea Bazaar with Gross Ghost and White Laces
30 Chapel Hill, NC – The Nightlight

July
12 Philadelphia, PA – Ortlieb's Lounge
20 Richmond, VA – The Well
23 Charlottesville, VA – Tea Bazaar with Parquet Courts and Woods
25 Oberlin, OH