Recording the majority of it at home, Lori Parsley and Nick Mancini, aka the Sure Things, have created a startling debut album of dark folk-rock that transcends the idiom. The self-released record, Odds and Endings, recalls the work of Linda and Richard Thompson, not so much in the details but in the general cadence. Parsley's plaintive and sweetly sung thoughts on love and loneliness interlace with Mancini's jagged guitar lines in much the same way as the famously estranged Thompsons combined melancholy folk and electric rock touches. But while the Thompsons looked to the folk traditions of Richard's Celtic ancestry, the Sure Things' influences are distinctly American, with country inflections reeling their heads on songs throughout the record. . . . Stephen Slaybaugh, Columbus Alive, October 16, 2003
Our Sound
The Sure Things deliver contrasting country and folk-tinged vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar, and jagged electric guitar. Their sound simultaneously evokes old country melodies and early 70's New York punk as fragments of a folk tradition where everything borrows from everything and always did. Their songs pull you through hauntingly lonely landscapes to a quick stop at a country revival then back into town to a rowdy bar. Throughout all the tunes, the vocal delivery and jagged guitar style will bend your ear with uncomfortably familiar tales and jolt you awake so you enjoy the ride.
Bios.
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Lori Parsley began learning about music early on through an a capella singing tradition and the country music that filled her parents' home. Later on, more formal lessons broadened her musical knowledge, but it wasn't until her early twenties she began writing her own music in earnest. Particularly inspirational was a year spent taking in the folk bands in taverns in Brittany. She founded two bands before forming The Sure Things with Nick Mancini. Their current electric/acoustic guitar duo format gives Lori's songs a stripped down, primitive sound that complements their terse, catchy appeal.
Guitarist/bassist/songwriter Nick Mancini has been performing as a band member or solo act in clubs since age 18. During the nineties, he was the bassist and singer for Columbus avant-party rock fixture Heifer, twice named a semi-finalist in Musician magazine's Best Unsigned Band contest. Nick has performed at a number of east-coast venues including the Knitting Factory in New York. His other projects include the steel-drum-driven calypso stadium rock band Apocalypso, edgy pop experimentalists The Sophomores, and over-the-top instrumentalists Grown So Ugly. Nick has performed at Columbus's notorious Captain Beefheart Tribute show since its inception in 1999.
The Sure Things are sometimes joined by ex-Flipping Hades member Ben Hamilton on drums.
Check out the artist's website:
http://www.thesurethings.net
Track List:
1. Coldest Night
2. Difficult Son
3. Good at Lonely
4. Firefly
5. Sons of Abraham
6. Be Still
7. Just Go
8. Time of Day
9. My Own
10. Last Dance
11. Whisper of a Girl
12. All this Beauty
13. Roundup Already
14. Morning's Far Away
Suggested CDs:Other Genres:
Our Sound
The Sure Things deliver contrasting country and folk-tinged vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar, and jagged electric guitar. Their sound simultaneously evokes old country melodies and early 70's New York punk as fragments of a folk tradition where everything borrows from everything and always did. Their songs pull you through hauntingly lonely landscapes to a quick stop at a country revival then back into town to a rowdy bar. Throughout all the tunes, the vocal delivery and jagged guitar style will bend your ear with uncomfortably familiar tales and jolt you awake so you enjoy the ride.
Bios.
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Lori Parsley began learning about music early on through an a capella singing tradition and the country music that filled her parents' home. Later on, more formal lessons broadened her musical knowledge, but it wasn't until her early twenties she began writing her own music in earnest. Particularly inspirational was a year spent taking in the folk bands in taverns in Brittany. She founded two bands before forming The Sure Things with Nick Mancini. Their current electric/acoustic guitar duo format gives Lori's songs a stripped down, primitive sound that complements their terse, catchy appeal.
Guitarist/bassist/songwriter Nick Mancini has been performing as a band member or solo act in clubs since age 18. During the nineties, he was the bassist and singer for Columbus avant-party rock fixture Heifer, twice named a semi-finalist in Musician magazine's Best Unsigned Band contest. Nick has performed at a number of east-coast venues including the Knitting Factory in New York. His other projects include the steel-drum-driven calypso stadium rock band Apocalypso, edgy pop experimentalists The Sophomores, and over-the-top instrumentalists Grown So Ugly. Nick has performed at Columbus's notorious Captain Beefheart Tribute show since its inception in 1999.
The Sure Things are sometimes joined by ex-Flipping Hades member Ben Hamilton on drums.
Check out the artist's website:
http://www.thesurethings.net
Track List:
1. Coldest Night
2. Difficult Son
3. Good at Lonely
4. Firefly
5. Sons of Abraham
6. Be Still
7. Just Go
8. Time of Day
9. My Own
10. Last Dance
11. Whisper of a Girl
12. All this Beauty
13. Roundup Already
14. Morning's Far Away
Suggested CDs:Other Genres:
- FOLK: Modern Folk
- COUNTRY: Country Folk
- MOOD: QUIRKY