Stereofan’s You Can’t Go Home Again opens with an invitation: “Let’s
ride around and see this town with all of its/ Colors and sounds
bouncing off of this great bazaar of man.†And that is exactly what
the listener gets: a variety of characters and perspectives lying
alongside rich arrangements and musical texturing. On the heels of
their first EP, Stain My Heart (Lelp Records, 2004), Stereofan
returns with an even bolder sense of orchestration and harmonic
texture, underpinning exquisitely-written songs with rich musical
performances.
Founded by guitarist Zeb Gould and violinist Megan Weeder as a two-
piece ensemble in Bloomington, Indiana, Stereofan’s early days were
full of experiments in songwriting and four-track recording. In 2004,
the pair moved to New York City where Megan found success as a
session violinist (performing with Donovan, Sean Lennon, and John
Mellencamp), and the two recorded Stain My Heart. It was here also
that Zeb began work as an archivist for classical composer Philip
Glass, at whose Looking Glass Studios You Can’t Go Home Again was
recorded.
In the recording of this, their first full-length, Gould and Weeder
have filled out the band with two additional members: on drum kit,
stellar Brooklyn percussionist Timothy Quigley (performer with One
Ring Zero, Smokey Hormel, Las Rubias del Norte, Andy Statman, & Jon
Birdsong); and covering the bass and piano, longtime musical
collaborator and engineer Sam Crawford (performer with Gould in Three
on the Tree and engineer on records and film scores by The Impossible
Shapes, Bill T. Jones, & Björk).
