Expecting Rain profile picture

Expecting Rain

Irish Twin

About Me

A saint prays on her knees. Jamacian men and women dance all night in a field with a mobile speaker truck. Saint Cecilia is the patron of musicians; sound system culture gave rise to reggae music which changed the face of an island. Cleveland folk-rock band Expecting Rain gives homage to these with their full-length debut, Saint Cecilia Sound System.
Briefly, Expecting Rain formed on 2002 as a vehicle for singer-guitarist Nick Tolar and lyricist Tony Vorell. They took their pessimistic name from a Bob Dylan song, and started recording at home with a little help from their friends, culminating in a self titled EP on Cleveland independent Van Gogh Round in 2004, which met with local acclaim. Saint Cecilia Sound System is their first full length record, and their first as a full band.
Watch how lyricist Tony Vorell compresses fifty years of post-war Cleveland into 2:38 for “My Gift to the Workers who Won WWII”. The jubilation of a hard-won peace gives way to pride in family, only to decline slowly as industry leaves and the city crumbles. At the end, every drunken worker snaps bitterly at authority in the fake renaissance of the suburbs. The music sounds like a celebration with its busily funky drums and cooing vocals, keeping up the promise of the first verse while the later verse slide into misery. The grandeur of the title track builds with a swell of harp, but comes sliding to a halt as the narrator realizes he never told anyone about his love. Such observations of the small moments of life being written about for the first time put Tony Vorell in the class of songmen like Randy Newman or Ray Davies, but focused exclusively within the Cleveland city limits.
The Saint Cecilia Sound System album is an intestely labored and obsessed over affair. The band recorded themselves at home, tweaking each track to perfection. Drummer Mike Hutton engineered the sessions, and his demanding ear shines through on the finished product. You can hear singers breathe in and guitars ring nakedly in a silent backdrop. Each instrument comes in exactly as needed and leaves just as timely. A look at the personnel with its swelling list of orchestral instruments would suggest a band given to excess; one listen tells you this a band with a clear vision and restraint enough to enhance the songs.
Nick Tolar's voice unites the songs. Simultaneously pitiable and self-righteous, Nick Tolar is your invitation to the unique but common world of Expecting Rain. His sweet acoustic guitar melodies are balanced by Dave Molnar virtuoso electric interjections, as at home with country licks as experimental textures. Steph Griffin adds the sad girl harmonies that console and taunt to the loner lead vocalist. Mike Allen adds bass lines which seem busy but always nail the underlying melody of the sound. Mike Hutton brings drum line precision to rock drumming, shaded by tons of auxiliary percussion. Rob Kovacs, despite not playing live with the band, plays classical piano and keyboards on top of simple folk melodies, adding yet another layer of contrasts.
Together, Expecting Rain have crafted an album that is both haunting and charming. Saint Cecilia Sound System is full of catchy melodies and poignant stories.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 2/1/2005
Band Website: expectingrainmusic.com
Band Members: Nick and Tony are going back to the bedroom
expecting help from Brian and Dan
Influences: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, Harry Nilsson, The Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, Elliott Smith, Billy Bragg, Bright Eyes
Sounds Like: A toast made between old friends.
Record Label: None
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

irish twin mixes. irish twin mixtape

We just got back from hearing some of the mixes for the new album 'Irish Twin' (still officially titled Expecting Rain Tonight.  In case you didn't hear, we outsourced this one to our friend Tim ...
Posted by Expecting Rain on Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:36:00 PST

expecting rain vs the nightlights

let's see if this makes as much sense to you as it does to us.Expecting Rain is now two bands:  Expecting Rain and the Nightlights.   The same people play and write in both, but they ...
Posted by Expecting Rain on Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:54:00 PST

new song

enjoy it while it lasts - the first demo from the new expecting rain album tenitively called 'irish twin'.  This song should be wildly offensive to any one who's heard of Chuck Berry, but since I...
Posted by Expecting Rain on Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:10:00 PST

is dude the new "dont tase me bro"?

for starters in other news, work is continuing on "Irish Twin", which is the working title of the next Expecting Rain album. Nick has been working on vocals pretty much since the show in Janu...
Posted by Expecting Rain on Mon, 18 Feb 2008 01:34:00 PST

record release

gee, it was already a week ago, but let's recap.Unlike this weekend, the weather was fair and inviting to all comers out to the Beachland last Saturday.  We got in on time for once, knowing full ...
Posted by Expecting Rain on Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:20:00 PST

new photos - show coming soon

Jim Benson, who was neglected in the previous entry, sent along some photos from the K-Rock publicity stunt.  They're not bad.Speaking of photos, if you're taking pictures at the show, let us kno...
Posted by Expecting Rain on Thu, 10 Jan 2008 03:24:00 PST

K-Rock caller "This kinda sucks. Can you play something else?"

Much to that dude's chagrin, we had our moment in the studio on 92.3 K-Rock. Pat the Producer is a much cooler guy than an alliterative nickname suggests.  We played two songs from Saint Cecilia,...
Posted by Expecting Rain on Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:01:00 PST

preparations for the record release show

Seems weird to me to have to actually plan for a show again.  We haven't really played one since 2006, though that year we played a lot.This show is a little different.  It's entirely our pa...
Posted by Expecting Rain on Sun, 06 Jan 2008 04:44:00 PST

Christmas/New Year’s wish

So, this is Christmas and what have you done?Well, John, we finally released that record we told you about for years.  Hope you like it. We're already making another.  We tried to be nicer p...
Posted by Expecting Rain on Wed, 26 Dec 2007 08:19:00 PST

announcement of record release show

We're finally ready to play a full band show, our first since 2006.January 12 at our old home, the Beachland Ballroom.  It will most likely be a free show.  We're going to try to cook up as ...
Posted by Expecting Rain on Sat, 17 Nov 2007 09:08:00 PST