Transient Songs

Foreign rooms is the sophomore LP by Seattle based Transient Songs. Originally TS started as a basement recording project by Texas expat John Frum (guitars, drums, vocals, keys) and early collaborator Andy Gassaway (bass, guitar). The two created the fuzzed out psychedelic laden EP Plantation to Your Youth in 2008 to strong regional reviews. The first LP Cave Syndrome (2010) was again created primarily by Frum and Gassaway and took a more dramatic direction sonically with additions of cellos and violins and layered guitars that swirled around Frum's impressionistic and narrative themes.

The album was again met with strong regional press and landed Transient Songs in Paste magazines "Best of What's Next" section in 2011 and Seattle PI wrote in a review that the album as "the best thing to come out of our own back yards in years". After the release of Cave Syndrome Frum once again started writing a new batch of songs and by chance ran into old friend and guitar player Michael Shunk who had started working on songs for Cave Syndrome but parted ways after Frum suffered a broken arm and put the project on hold during a long Seattle winter. Frum and Gassaway had also started playing the new songs with drummer Ian Piña intent on playing them live. The direction for the new record was becoming apparent - it would be a complete band playing on the record and for the first time, playing live under the Transient Songs name. Frum approached Half Light bass player/pedal steel player Dayna Loeffler at a show and asked if she would be interested in recording some pedal steel and she signed on. By chance Gassaway was departing for the sunny skies of San Diego and Loefler stepped in on bass.

Foreign Rooms is an exposed record - the layers of guitars from former recordings have been stripped back to Frum's rhythm and Shunk's lead stylings akin to Johnny Marr or Alex Chilton weaving through the smooth melodic bass and solid back. The album also eschews the reverb laden vocals and puts them front and center. Foreign Rooms is a collaborative record with all members contributing parts and songs. Two songs penned and sung by Shunk give the album a different feel than previous outings as well. All these elements place Foreign Rooms in another environment spatially and sonically than previous TS outings and is a unique record that rewards the listener with repeated plays.

Transient Songs releases their single "Idle Hands" on Jan 8th followed by the album release on March 5th.