honey creek

First Review

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:26:47 -0500

Hey here’s the first review of Silhouette.

http://chicagoindiemusiclive.blogspot.com/2013/01/album-review-zephuros.html

Kevin Meyer songs feature intimate vocals perfectly cradled by spare instrumentation, all of which has Meyer inviting favorable comparison to Sufjan Stevens. Look no further than Kickstarter-named album-opener, “Silhouette.” Its acoustic guitar and xylophone support the lush vocals, “look away my darlings / I don’t want you to catch / their poison” — the lyrical “poison” beautifully rendered on repeat.

Meyer classifies his Zephuros project as nature folk, but it is one that works best outside the animal kingdom. I don’t agree with The Shins that caring is necessarily creepy, but microscopic looks at the animal kingdom can be a bit off-putting. Even Joanna Newsom’s 9.5-minute “Monkey and Bear” was less description-based, and might not have worked without Newsom’s bouncy harp and bizarre/beloved Bjork-like vocal.

It is Zephuros’ album-closer, “North Star,” that is the exemplar of nature folk, and is closer akin to Laura Veirs than Newsom. The track is proof that, with the right subject matter, Meyer is a poet of considerable skill: “tall black waves rip / and toss our broken ship / swirling clouds cover our heads / like a blanket from the bed / on the ocean way out far / we rely on the north star.” Perhaps Zephuros’ interests are idiosyncratic, but Kevin Meyer’s musical performance is all natural beauty

thanks to Bryan Cahpin over at Chicago Indie Music live

Zephuros @ Reggies Music Joint // Jan 27

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:29:06 -0500

Gig on Sunday.

$5, 21+

http://www.reggieslive.com/show/chris-pickering/

BE THERE

OFFICIAL ARTWORK + GIG

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 17:22:13 -0500

There you have it ladies and gents. The third album from Zephuros will be called “Silhouette” and thats the artwork above! huzzah!

This design actually happened last minute, I planned on going in a different direction but something about the previous design just felt incomplete. I’m still fine tuning the inside of the CD (which will be a 4-panel digipack) / I still have to check spellings of people’s names and what not. But I should be sending this to get duplicated and send the poster to be printed and buy all the packaging materials that I need to ship this stuff.

I still have to come up with something for the t-shirt. So hopefully I can come up with something soon get those made as well. Tentatively looking to mail everything out mid-late January.

I also have a gig booked on Sun, Jan 27 at Reggies w/ Needles in the Red & Chris Pickering. I don’t plan on having a CD release show (at least at this time) so maybe this will serve as a pseudo release show. And I’ll make the music available on bandcamp that day.

I’ll update again with photos of everything and the “box set.” Crazy to think that this coming to an end. Almost as crazy as how long it took. haha.

Cheers.

Album teaser! This song was named by one of the pledgers...

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 18:05:00 -0400

Album teaser!

This song was named by one of the pledgers it’s called Equinox.

The votes are still coming in for the album title and it’s kind of interesting how one sided it is. And it’s not the one I thought would be winning. So that was really cool.

Check your emails if you pledged and haven’t yet voted / provided more information. Still waiting on about 13 or so people.

But enjoy the teaser and here’s another teaser (artwork for the current leading title) of course its all blurred. I put the title of the song over this so it works as the artwork for the Equinox Teaser. Make sense? haha

CHEERS!

NEW ALBUM UPDATE!

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:48:44 -0400

Big update guys.

I have given the word to Nate to move onto mastering this here album that has taken almost two years to complete. (Mainly because I had to write some songs and find time to self record and everything)

Nate has added a lot of cool instrumentation and I think the songs themselves sound really good. And I hope you all like it when I finally post them all.

I sent out the kickstarter information to the pledgers to get the stuff I need and more importantly for them to vote on the song title. (If you pledged, you should have an email)

I narrowed it down to: Meteors, Hooves, Silhouette & Pinch.

So we’ll see what it turns out to be. Then I can start on creating the artwork and all of that, which will be exciting.

Still no idea on the release date and a potential release date show. Definitely would like to have it out before the end of the year. But i dont know how long it will take to get the physical cd when i send in everything.

Anyway, here are a couple shots from the show a few weeks ago, taken by my pal Corey DiNardo.

cheers.

Zephuros @ The Horseshoe. 9pm. FREE

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 12:59:28 -0400

Zephuros @ The Horseshoe. 9pm. FREE:

Tonight.

Playin a show at The Horseshoe. Reuniting with Justin Phillip Lamoureux. Played with him when I toured in Omaha. He’s awesome.

Line up:
9:00 - Glad Fanny (www.gladfanny.com)
9:40 - Zephuros
10:20 - Justin Phillip Lamoureux (http://www.midwestdilemma.com/)
11:00 - Xoe Wise (http://xoewisemusic.bandcamp.com/)
11:40 - Hunger Mountain

FREE | 4115 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL, 60618

Toying around again, with different fonts / placement. This...

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 14:15:13 -0400

Toying around again, with different fonts / placement. This white bar would extend to the back and the tracklist would be on there.

i like this a little better. /shrug

thoughts?

toying around with another album title/artwork concept. going...

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 21:49:48 -0400

toying around with another album title/artwork concept.

going with something simple.

not sure if i like it that much though.

thoughts?

Creative Process Nate sent over the song list and what...

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 15:50:00 -0400

Creative Process

Nate sent over the song list and what he’s adding to each tune. Pretty cool to see how he works.

Once I give him the OK to mix/master I’ll send out the kickstarter q/a to get addresses and what not and start working on designing stuff.

I think that should happen this month. We’re getting crazy close guys.

Almost there

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:15:27 -0400

Guys. Nate sent over all the tracks to me (unmixed) with instrumentation he added to some of the songs. So I can start narrowing down things.

Right now there are 15 tracks. Two short instrumentals and 13 songs. I’ve listened to a few so far and I’m getting really excited as these are sounding great. They sound intimate and charming. I might have a difficult decision narrowing these down. But down worry. I’ll have leftovers that I’ll still send to everyone.

I’m going to come up with some album titles once I finish listening and will send out that info.

Yay!

Here’s how Two Sons is coming along. Nate added some sweet...

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 20:17:17 -0400

Here’s how Two Sons is coming along. Nate added some sweet additions and I really am liking how it’s coming together.

He sent me a bunch of tracks for my initial thoughts. Which was way more than I was expecting since he’s typically super busy. So hopefully he can keep the pace up and this will be done soon.

enjoy!

Here’s me performing “Sand & Stone” from a...

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 17:45:40 -0400

Here’s me performing “Sand & Stone” from a show back in March at Heritage Bicycles General Store.

I thought it turned out pretty well. A couple of hiccups here and there. I’ve also realized that I need to buy a nice amp. I borrowed the one in the show from the guy that was setting up the show. It was really nice.

I know nothing about amps.

My friend Bryan is using kickstarter to raise funds for his...

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:52:45 -0400

My friend Bryan is using kickstarter to raise funds for his documentary where he and his crew spent 2 months traveling across the US interviewing people about their lives and past choices. Really cool project. They have a trailer of the movie up on kickstarter.

He supported my kickstarter so you should support his!

Check it out

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cranktank/im-fine-thanks

guh. this just decided to break. really? and with a gig...

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 00:46:29 -0400

guh. this just decided to break.

really? and with a gig tomorrow?

what a perfect ending to an already bleh day.

more messing around in photoshop. I think I’m coming close...

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 14:09:25 -0400

more messing around in photoshop. I think I’m coming close to having the album titles for the pledgers to choose from. Here are some of the ideas that I have.

Two Sons
Hooves
Zephuros (self-titled)
Meteors
Pinch
Honey Creek
Silhouette

I’m going to narrow it down to 3-4 to send to pledgers. What do you think / like?

Major Progress

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 18:56:51 -0400

Hey all, I’m happy to say that I finished all of my recordings for this upcoming album! I sent the last track to Nate.

Now he will mix/edit/perhaps master it while also adding on some backing instrumentation.

I’m pumped. Crazy to think that it’s been about 1.5 years since I was successfully funded on kickstarter. I clearly wasn’t expecting it to take this long, but I had some life moments happen. (getting married, moving to city, jobs, etc) So that really slowed everything up. But on to the next phase! woo!

Thanks for the patience.

messing around with some album artwork. i really like the title...

Wed, 30 May 2012 17:23:40 -0400

messing around with some album artwork. i really like the title “two sons” / that song, however, the photo here isn’t that crisp when blown up. even though i have the hi-res version of it.

i like that idea of this faceless deer.

of course, the pledgers will be voting on the title of album. so i should probably get that squared away first before i continue with artwork. haha.

i also have a couple days left to finish the track “hooves.” i changed the tune to it and i’m digging how it sounds.

Zephuros @ Uncommon Ground

Wed, 30 May 2012 16:43:27 -0400

I’ll be playing a show June 15 @ Uncommon Ground. 10 PM

Opening up for Sarah Donner.

Check it out!

http://www.facebook.com/events/107183209422226/

Updates

Tue, 15 May 2012 01:00:10 -0400

Update on the tunes. Recorded two today. Including a new song. Hooray! I seriously have 1 more and it’s my oldest one. I’ve tried recording it but have always struggled with it for some reason. I had come up with a really cool riff that I didn’t have any words to it, so I think I’m going to switch tunes for that song, which is “Hooves.”

I made a goal with Nate that I’ll get him all of my recordings by the end of the month. Or they won’t be in consideration for the album. But I’m almost done on my end. He’s going to edit/track some things, but I’m close. Closer than I’ve been when I’ve posted about almost being done. Ugh. But, seriously, almost there.

Woo!

Tattoo #2. Right Wrist. Ampersand set in Clarendon...

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:59:09 -0400

Tattoo #2. Right Wrist. Ampersand set in Clarendon Roman.

Favorite glyph. Also it represents all the “and” in my life. I like to experience multiple things.