close

Mt. Lebanon native’s band returns to Pittsburgh for Warhol concert

By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 5 min read
article image -

Homecoming isn’t necessarily about football, even in Western Pennsylvania.

While Mt. Lebanon native Jeff Baron certainly appreciates gridiron goings-on – “I wish I would have some more time to hang out there and maybe see the Steelers play” – his forthcoming visit to Pittsburgh is all about music.

Following a tour of the West Coast that is making its way east, Baron’s band, the Essex Green, is the featured artist for the Warhol Theater’s Sound Series show on Oct. 11. Joined by fellow core members Sasha Bell and Chris Ziter, plus the rhythm section of Lowell Thompson and Jeremy Frederick, Baron returns to a venue where the group previously played in 2006.

That was the year the Essex Green released its fourth album, “Cannibal Sea,” to considerable acclaim: Reviewer Tim Sendra of the online guide AllMusic, for example, awards it four-and-a-half out of five stars and raves about “Final Four-worthy performances.”

“Hardly Electronic” is the Essex Green’s 2018 release on Merge Records, which also released previous albums “The Long Goodbye” and “Cannibal Sea.”

This is the year that the follow-up, “Hardly Electronic,” finally has dropped, as they say these days. And it’s four-star material in Sendra’s book.

With the considerable about of time in between, Baron and his bandmates have been fielding the question: Why so long?

The actual hiatus, he’ll explain, was about six years, between the time the principals moved out of New York City until after he moved to Burlington, Vt., and again was living near fellow University of Vermont graduate Ziter.

“So it was easy to get things going again when we’re in the same town,” Baron said.

Bell wasn’t quite around the corner – Montana is a couple of thousand miles away from New England – but it didn’t take much to convince her to revive the project.

“We went over to Europe a couple of years ago to sort of break the ice,” Baron recalled, in some apropos locales for particular that figure of speech. “We went back to Sweden and Norway to play some festivals.”

Thus reinvigorated, the band started the two-year process for what would become “Hardly Electronic.” After composing and coming up with arrangements for new material, which always is the toughest part, recording the basic tracks began, mostly in Ziter’s home studio.

Sasha Bell

They gave those to Matt Boynton for mixing at his Vacation Island Recording in Queens, near the band’s old stomping grounds in Brooklyn.

“We’d go down there occasionally,” Baron said. “Or because of technology, he could send the mixes and we could just listen to them, and we’d send him an email back and say, ‘Can you change X, Y and Z.'”

The finished work continues to feature the Essex Green’s blending of highly accessible tunefulness with well-crafted, pertinent lyrics. “Don’t Leave It in Our Hands” serves as a prime example, offering the question as it applies to a growing reliance on technology: “What’s this revolution for? We all just want to stay inside.”

And the music represents a fascinating mix of eclecticism, as Baron explained:

“We’re really influenced by mostly melodies and harmonies, and then good musical arrangements. It can be anything from the Beatles to George Jones to the Velvet Underground.”

Promotional materials also draw comparison to the legendary British folk-rock band Fairport Convention, or at least its 1960s lineup featuring the vocal harmonies of Iain Matthews and the late Sandy Denny.

“I don’t think we sound like Fairport,” Baron contended, “but if you check out this song called ‘Saturday’ on ‘Everything Is Green,’ the first record, and it’s kind of in that vein. We just actually started playing that song for the first time in a long time, and it sounded pretty good.”

Photo by Greg Langel

Jennifer Baron and Dan Koshute

“Everything Is Green” came out as the Essex Green’s debut in 1999, and “The Long Goodbye” followed in 2003. The band formed as an offshoot of the Ladybug Transistor, a Brooklyn group that in the mid- to late ’90s included Baron along with his sister and fellow Mt. Lebanon High School graduate Jennifer Baron.

A Dormont resident, Jennifer will open the Warhol show for the Essex Green with her current band, The Garment District. Other performers are Dan Koshute on guitar and vocals, Alex Korshin on lead vocals and percussion, Corry Drake on bass and Greg Langel, Jennifer’s husband, on keyboards.

The Garment District is working on a new album, the first since 2016’s “If You Take Your Magic Slow.” Jennifer composed all the music, and Jeff played guitar on half the tracks.

“She’s a really hard worker,” he said about his sister. “I’m really proud of her.”

The Warhol’s Sound Series concert is at 8 p.m. Oct. 11 at the Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky St., Pittsburgh’s North Side. For more information, visit www.warhol.org/event/sound-series-essex-green.

For more information about the Essex Green, visit www.essexgreen.com. Music by The Garment District is at thegarmentdistrict.bandcamp.com.

Alex Korshin sings with The Garment District at the Thrival Innovation + Music Festival, with Jennifer Baron at left. (Photo by Lisa Wardle)

The Garment District in concert (Photo by Lukas Truckenbrod)

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $/week.

Subscribe Today