American Standard Time Presents Caitlin Sherman, Izaak Opatz, and Kassi Valazza

Caitlin Sherman, Izaak Opatz, and Kassi Valazza at Conor Byrne Pub

Caitlin Sherman:

"I’m told to go it alone and just forget / you can love the song but you just can’t love the man’

“I was alone, unpacking boxes in the strange old craftsman I rented a room in during my divorce. Out of nowhere my computer turned on and started playing Townes Van Zandt’s ‘For the Sake of the Song’. I shivered. I melted. I picked up my guitar and wrote ‘If Not The Man’”

Years later, in an "about damn time" kind of moment, Seattle based singer-songwriter Caitlin Sherman is stepping out solo. She’s had her fair share of collaborations over the years, most notably the cosmic psych rock of Evening Bell and the hazy noir of Slow Skate. As a songwriter and arranger in both projects, she also held the role of girlfriend and wife. Now she is neither.

Death To The Damsel is a meditation on love lost and independence found in the wake of back to back romantic/musical entanglements. Each song an act to unbind oneself from the past in order to look forward. There will be no White Knight to free the damsel. It’s high time she untie herself from those tracks and make a move. “Find me a fire, I’ll find the escape, an exit from all that we built an invisible stairway, hidden from shame for a quick getaway.” And so that “heroine without a hero needed” emerged with ten songs charting her own path. Dark contemplative songwriting explored through fresh unpredictable pop sensibility, dripping with art and purpose.

Longtime friend Colin J Nelson produced, mixed and engineered the album in his Fremont studio Her Car. And while past projects incorporated vast soundscapes and string arrangements written by Sherman herself, she made the decision to stick to a set band sound making sure the song itself was the centerpiece. The pair worked to carve out a sound that protected the intimacy of the lyric and emotion with a studio band that could react to those dynamic needs. Personnel, both on the album and live setting, include Jason Merculief on drums (J Tillman, Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, Alela Diane, Sera Cahoone), Bill Patton on guitar (Fleet Foxes, J Tillman) and Jesse Harmonson on bass (Jaime Wyatt, The Crying Shame).

Caitlin Sherman has shared the stage with roots rockers to country queens and everything in between including Wanda Jackson, Justin Townes Earl, Orville Peck, Kyle Craft, Frazey Ford, SUSTO, Esme Patterson, Liza Anne, Banditos, Ruby Boots, All Our Exes Live In Texas, Valley Queen, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, Matt Dorrien, Barna Howard, Izaak Opatz, Howe Gelb, The Moondoggies, and Jaime Wyatt.

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Izaak Opatz:

Izaak Opatz is a mountain man (from Montana)! He works in National Parks, cutting trails through the woods, probably wearing a vest or a funny hat and crapping in holes in the ground that he digs with an antique little folding shovel (maybe). He’ll go weeks on end without seeing another single person. When he does finally wander into town, he usually brings with him a pack-mule-donkey-satchel-thing, chock full of songs about women that he’s been dreaming of, places where he used to be happy, situations he screwed up… really dipping into a well of memories that’s probably better left alone.

His songs teeter on the edge of sentimental-songwriter’y-sad-n-lonely crap. This is a very tough area for a songwriter to inhabit. Mainly because it’s so easy to get lumped in with the rest of the middle-aged losers down at the Applebee’s open mic (next to the airport). BUT IZAAK DOES IT SO WELL that you actually start making plans to visit Montana and you tell the wife you love her. Maybe you order hiking boots on Zappos right that moment. You even make little changes like fast-forwarding through the commercials again - you touch your finger to your lips and think, “I wonder why I stopped doing that?” His songs have got you and you don’t want to be let go. And If you’re anything like me, you want to be a part of what he’s got going on, simply because it’s so damn good.

My favorite lyrics are Izaak’s. My favorite melodies are Izaak’s, and even writing this bio is getting me amped to go blast his music in my garage - just begging someone, ANYONE to come tell me to turn it down. I’ll be right here, machete in hand, ready to force anyone to listen. LISTEN:

“SHE GIVES ME LOVE UNDER THE TABLE / I WAS HARD PRESSED AND NOT THINKING STRAIGHT / I’VE BEEN SO LONG DREAMING OF HER ANKLES / UN-SOCKED AND LOCKED ACROSS THE BACK OF MY WAIST” (Limited Liability)

See him live, just once, and you may notice yourself imagining your life at home with your very own Izaak, living in the basement, teaching your wife and children how to tie knots… He’s part of the family now. If he sticks around a night or two, you may feel compelled to offer up your prettiest daughter’s hand in marriage. But take warning, dear readers, if you turn your back on him for even one minute, he’ll probably wander back up the mountain and give up whatever it is you offer, no matter how sweet the sitch, or pretty the daughter. He’s got his own agenda and it’s frustrating but also so admirable. My advice is to catch him whenever and however you can, and celebrate this sensitive mountain man while he’s around.

- Jonny Fritz

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Kassi Valazza:

Kassi Valazza has a viscous, light gold voice. It swirls around in your head like whiskey in a snifter; vaporous, and intoxicating. For most of Dear Dead Days pedal steel and electric guitar lope along at half time, the in pocket rhythm section booming from deep in the low end. Its frequencies penetrate your flesh. The songs reverberate off your bones. Her lyrics drip down the inside of your skull. On the opening track “Cayuse”:

“cause they’re hard runnin’ critters, and wild-eyed quitters / kicking up all they can find / that fool hardy man of mine”

Musicians with Southwest origins dependably bring a languorous relaxation –the slow pace a defense against the oppressive heat of the high desert– and a grim sense of gravitas, having walked among the bleached bones and arid landscapes. At times Valazza sings as if her lyrics are smoke she’s exhaling. On “A Fine Colour” she sings every note clearly, and with force, on a surrealist-jealousy jawn.

“Juniper has come and gone this year / Soft whispers in my ear / Broken promises she swore to keep / That don’t mean a damn to me / like pickin’ daisies off your tongue / life’s a gamble for you, son…”

Likewise “Sad Songs” calls out a triflin’ troubadour. Melancholy and psychedelia folllow Kassi wherever she goes. Down the road on “Chino” she sings “…and I guess that I’ve been doing fine / and I reckon I could ease my mind / if my bills were paid”.

On the folk-tale “Mary Valaza and band craft a southern rock setting for a parable about being careful what you wish for, and –conversely– sticking around long enough to get your rewards.

The album backs off to half-time again and vibes and guitar reverberate from down the hall on the waiting-around-to-die country song “Running on Empty”. The country-soul torch-bearers “Johnny Dear” and “Verde River” illuminate side-b. You get the hint: Valazza is pretty goddamn good at writing a sad song –but there’s another element, a painted desert, couloured canyon walls at sunset, endless sky vision. Kassi will be your peyote coyote; a guide through these psychedelic vistas. Here she’s found a way to trap the world of cheaters, drifters, lovers and leavers in amber. Wander from your own woes, and come walk with Valazza’s.

Sean Jewell - American Standard Time