The tales Stealing Seasons chooses to tell are about feeling lost, finding freedom and succumbing to remorseful dormancy. Their EP is filled with intense yet tame and somber yet rousing tracks. The Murfreesboro band is lead by Shonna Longie. While I tend to be a bit finicky with female leads, she is pitch-perfect for the job. She handles the struggle and the strength in stride.
The 5-song EP was recorded at the 11th Hour Studio in Murfreesboro and the Walk Studio in Kennesaw, Ga. All of the vocals, most keyboard and acoustic guitar tracks were performed by Shonna, all bass tracks and nearly all electric guitars were performed by Jody Hicks (of Halo Stereo), and the drums were performed by Jeremiah Bivins.
Stealing Seasons is now a full band, including Shonna, drummer Jordan Cullen, bassist Timothy Fleming, and lead guitarist Matt Lund, who have been in the studio recording new songs.
I am guilty of not being able to catch a live show at which I could have possibly heard new songs with the band and shaken hands with an older-Timothy (we’re from the same town, but I haven’t seen him since he was five-years-old), but work had me down for the count. Stupid work. Here’s a round up via the EP.
In “Lines” the guitar and drum work are aggressive as Shonna sings about assuming identities and the desire to escape them. She’s the incarnate of Eleanor Rigby, wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door, but this lonely girl wants to be more than the one picking up the rice after the wedding. She wants to be the bride, just as Shonna wants to cross those lines and be Mick’s honky tonk woman. No Brit influence left unturned, the bridge reminded me of Led Zeppelin’s “Ten Years Gone.”
On the other hand, we have “Blinding Cage,” a crunching, desperate track with a list of demands including don’t wants, never wants and wants. You’ll feel an adrenalin rush at the second chorus, when she exclaims “I want to stop this dream before it ends” through “I want to fly before I hit the ground,” then the bridge soothes the rage just a little bit until she belts out the final plea.
“Luminous,” however, offers vulnerability: “Sometimes we want to fly/Sometimes we want to die.” Our Eleanor may have comfortably found herself in the dark, where her light can be seen. Maybe she’d rather glow internally rather than have the light blasted upon her, inner beauty versus the external. Or maybe she appreciates the bell jar as much as those rare optimistic, carefree days. Either way, it’s an undeniable “tug of war.” Agreed.
The EP ends with “Somewhere,” in which Shonna gives us the hope that she’ll find that nirvana where she finds her self. If the Wizard of Oz’s Dorothy were to outgrow the family farm or if Eleanor were to decide on the fearless-face, this song would be their anthem. The featured acoustic guitar and echoing bass further emphasize the restlessness, the urgency, and then the drums prep us for that final inclination to defy fate. Overall, it’s a great redemption song that everyone who suffers from wanderlust should appreciate.
While a few of the catchy hooks have been stuck in my head for the past two weeks, sometimes the overt production served as a distraction. “One More Day,” for example, begins with a drum track, then acoustic guitar, then another melody and rhythm, then piano, then an electric guitar … and back and forth … while I contemplate atypical words including suffocate, dissipate, compromise and fermented. Among the rhyming couplets and the constant rhythm changes, I am sometimes lost.
K.I.S.S. is an acronym that serves as a reminder for students and creators of advertising. It’s short for Keep It Simple, Stupid. Because stupid is a harsh word, I will add on to it: K.I.S.S.S. = Keep It Simple, Stealing Seasons. Chip away at some of the big words and layered instrumentalisation and vox. Give me some answers. Help me cross those lines. Take me to that place.
Again, my requests may be late, as I have yet to see them live. And I love hearing familiar tunes live! They are naked without all the studio tinkering – how they began. My (and your) next chance to see Stealing Seasons will be a FREE show on Oct. 16th at The Rutledge. (If I don't make it, "Hi Timothy!")