The Truly Me Club Popstar on the Lam
Out July 17, 2007 on Sonic Boom Recordings
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The Truly Me Club is the project of Portland, Oregon-based multi-instrumentalist and do-it-yourself producer Jason Parker. His debut album, Popstar on the Lam, is grounded in rumbling organ tones, thickened with layers of pitch-shifted harmonicas, and accented with delicate handbells and clever percussives. These create a dramatic setting for harmonic vocals that tell strangely charming stories about a bullet's trip through a brain, breakdancing fame, or a teenage runaway's journey home.
A native Texan, Parker moved to Portland seeking a change in scenery and perspective, at which time he began work on the material that would become Popstar. This dramatic move informed a narrative thread in the album that winds through dirty violence and pure love, blind rebellion and simple reality. Meanwhile, Parker's musical collaborator and fellow Texan, Mica Rapstine, has been undertaking his own journey. Rapstine left Texas traveling east to complete a Master's degree at Yale, where, under the influence of the New Haven and New York composition scene, he began rethinking his approach to writing music. Encouraged by Parker's work on The TMC project, Rapstine left academia to devote his energy to music, relocating to Portland to join The Truly Me Club. Completing the on-stage presentation are the remarkable musicians Josh Steiner (The Author) and Tony Moreno (Norfolk & Western).