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Digital

Graig Markel Tall Tales on Tape

SBR013 Release Date: April 2004

Tall Tales on Tape, is Graig's most accomplished album to date, an evolution of his songwriting skills. His songwriting, playing, and arranging have refined, yielding a persuasive cinematic quality to the sound of this record. Tall Tales on Tape combines Markel's signature solo work with performances by his live band, Verses on Venus. Also present are traces of early 70's Motown, Holland era Beach Boys, Shuggie Otis, and Steely Dan. Lo-fi rock and soul are filtered through Markel into something completely distinct. The record breathes with Graig's guitar and is backed by the orchestration of piano, percussion, horns, and vocal layering. Lyrically, Markel contemplates and composes from darkened rhythmical schemes that could heal you or push you over the edge.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Early Bird Gets By
2. Seasons in the Shroud
3. The Year 3,000 is Just Ahead
4. Saturday Night Fractures
5. Green Eyes
6. Wings
7. Black and Blue and Numb all Over
8. Water to the Flames
9. Starry Eyed
10. Your Favorite Colors

REVIEWS
Alternative Press
Some of the sweetest pop vocalizing heard this year.
Nexus Underground
Emerging from the sparse Seattle music scene as one of its best and brightest singer/songwriters.
Epitonic
Markel has stripped away all of the unnecessary elements in these songs, relying simply on the strength of his voice and his stories.
Exclaim
Markel is a songwriter with a wealth of talent and one gets the distinct impression that he's only just begun to scratch the surface with this record.
PopMatters - Emily Sogn
...Tall Tales is a moody, meandering collection of finely crafted songs. Influenced equally by '70s-era soul and Elliott Smith-style pop, Markel's tunes ease you into a low-blood pressure world where heartbreak is always right behind you or just around the corner...His voice is golden and his songs are sad and consistently melodic without being formulaic.
Olympus Artist Profile
Graig Markel is one of the most unique and gifted songwriters to emerge from the Northwest the past 5 years. During that time, he's released three solo albums, each more compelling than the last. His latest, Tall Tales On Tape, sees him commanding all fronts.
Think early '70s Motown, Shuggie Otis, Afghan Whigs and Jeff Buckley. Think Rock & Soul - unironic, passionate and totally committed. Think The Real Deal.