Breaking Laces upcoming release, When You Find Out Review

BROOKLYN TRIO BREAKING LACES ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM RELEASE

WHEN YOU FIND OUT

MAY 17, 2011

“Hartong carries himself in front of the crowd as something of a more down-to-earth version of Rivers Cuomo with his head screwed on straight.” The Washington Times

New York, NY – Brooklyn-based trio, Breaking Laces returns in fine form with a potent and relatable new album, When You Find Out, set for release on May 17, 2011. The new record features their much known smart, witty, honest and frequently humorous songwriting style with well-crafted songs that range from pop ditties to distortion influenced rock.

"The idea was to take simple acoustic pop songs and make them bigger than life," says singer/guitarist/songwriter Willem Hartong, whose effortlessly indelible tunes combine widescreen song craft with personally charged lyrical intimacy.  That's certainly the case with When You Find Out, which finds Hartong and bandmates Rob Chojnacki (bass) and Seth Masarsky (drums) achieving a forceful creative breakthrough.

** Photo Credit Jen Maler

It’s a compellingly listenable record that exhibits new musical range for a band who has already won over a diehard legion of fans across the country with frequent touring around the country (500+ shows in 5 years).

The 12-song set consolidates and focuses the salient qualities of the band's prior work, while venturing into some exciting new musical territory with instantly memorable tunes such as "What We Need," "Hear to Stay," "Laser Beams" and "Carry On".

“Brooklyn's Breaking Laces transcends geography - and even time, a little bit - to hold fast to the pleasant dashes of anti-folk. There’s a little Lemonhead sugar and some They Might Be Giants quirk. The trio incorporates sampling and keyboards to flesh out its live sound, but thankfully doesn't crowd the acoustic simplicity.”  Rochester City Paper

When You Find Out's resonant songwriting demonstrates the remarkable rapport that the three band members have developed during their longstanding partnership. These achievements are all the more impressive in light of the fact that they've been accomplished on the band's own terms, with an absence of outside hype and an old-school emphasis on honest musicianship and irresistibly melodic, emotionally engaging songwriting.

The band recorded When You Find Out in New York and Nashville with producer Ed Tuton, whose resume includes work with artists as diverse as Carly Simon, T-Pain, Maxwell and Eagle Eye Cherry.  "I think that this record shows a good range of what we do," Chojnacki asserts.  "It's pretty focused, but it also covers a lot of musical ground.  We dug pretty deep for this one."

Their discipline and hard work has allowed them to develop a live show whose upbeat intensity belies the musicians' seemingly mild-mannered exterior and their stripped-down lineup of acoustic guitar, bass and drums (which they augment on stage with samplers and other electronic devices).

"I love that we can go to a small club with just the three of us, and blow the roof off the place," Masarsky adds.  "We've played on bills with a lot of different kinds of bands, and we've followed bands that are loud and fast and furious, and then we get up there with just the three of us and it's just epic, and people say 'How did you do that?'"

** Photo Credit Jen Maler

SXSW BREAKS BAND…OR AT LEAST BONES

New York, NY – Brooklyn-based rock trio Breaking Laces headed down to Austin to play four SXSW showcases, meet people, make connections, drink beer, catch some shows and head home to get ready for the release of their highly anticipated upcoming release, When You Find Out. But things didn’t go exactly as planned….

While the band did play all four gigs, the last two were quite an accomplishment – band drummer, Seth Masarsky, hit the kit with two broken wrists! Such devotion to rocking out regardless of injury, earned Seth and the band the official True Grit Award from The U.N.C.L.E. SXSW 2011 Spirit Awards.

Breaking Laces’ songwriter and lead singer, Willem Hartong tells the tale: “The first rule of Austin Fight Club is that we don't talk about the fact that Seth found his way into a basement Friday night and got Tyler Durdened. Sounds a lot better than, don’t drink while walking, right?  No matter the story, fact is we can now honestly say we live up to our name, Breaking Laces. It’s a true accomplishment.”

Breaking Laces upcoming release, When You Find Out, is stockpiled with Hartong’s smart, witty, humorous and honest songs ranging from pop ditties to distortion-influenced rock. The 12-song album, set for May 17^th release, consolidates and focuses the salient qualities of the band's prior work, while venturing into some exciting new musical territory with instantly memorable tunes such as "What We Need," "Hear to Stay," "Laser Beams" and "Carry On."

CONFIRMED TOUR DATES (More dates to be announced)

6/8                   The Triple                  Richmond, VA

6/9                   Live Bar                     Greenville, NC

6/10                 Evening Muse            Charlotte, NC

6/23                 Legendary Dobbs     Philadelphia, PA

6/24                 Ebenezer’s                 Washington DC

My thoughts:
I am in love with this funky, fun group.  I love listening to it at work because it's really upbeat and happy feeling.  I can't really think of a good group to compare them to, which I suppose is a good thing.  They are fun and quirky kind of like a Green Day but much lighter...but not sleepy light.  Maybe you can do better to come up with a comparison after you listen to the songs below.

Check out these two fun singles for FREE "God In Training" and "Shopping For Two"

http://breakinglaces.com/findout/mp3/GodInTraining.mp3

http://breakinglaces.com/findout/mp3/ShoppingForTwo.mp3

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this album for review purposes. I was not paid for a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own honest, personal feedback.