New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Austin-based folk-pop virtuosos The Belle
Sounds premiere the music video for their single "Like a Villain" with Atwood Magazine off their forthcoming album "The Sea Within." The video, directed by
Barbara FG, can be streamed and the single is available on iTunes, Spotify and everywhere else music is sold or streamed. "The Sea Within" is set to be released on Friday, July 20, with an official album release party taking place Saturday, July 21 at One-2-One Barlocated at 1509 S. Lamar Blvd. St. 600, Austin, Texas.
Doors are at 7:30 p.m.with The Sanco Loop playing at 8 p.m., The Belle
Sounds at 9:30 p.m. and the
Brandon Aguilar Band at 11:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 and there will be a free download card of the album with entry. The Belle
Sounds will also have a
Houston album release party at The Mucky Duck on Tuesday, July 24 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available now - for more information on the group, please see www.thebellesounds.com.
"I have been suffering from panic attacks, anxiety and claustrophobia for years," said The Belle
Sounds frontwoman Noëlle Hampton. "Writing 'Like A Villain' was cathartic for me but I knew that there was an opportunity with a music video to go even deeper into healing and facing it down. As
Barbara FG, the director, and I talked about it more and more, it became clear what we had to do for the video. We wanted to show the inner workings of my mind in a beautiful and disturbing way, how someone can go from a place of power and control to absolutely wrecked in a few minutes. I am fascinated by the human mind and how we can show ourselves as brave souls while these dark, often traumatic thoughts are still right under the surface. I wanted to put myself in some situations that would actually cause a panic attack and face it in front of people, which is exactly what happened. It was my version of systematic desensitization therapy. Being a 45-year old woman about to be the focal point of the video was hard enough to imagine, but then being naked, taped, as ugly as I have ever been and then stuffed in a tiny triangle mirror room took it to a whole other level of uncomfortable."
The Belle
Sounds and
Director Barbara FG took the video from concept to fruition in two weeks, creating all of the costumes and sets themselves and assembling a crew including Assistant
Director LouLou Ghelichkahani (Singer of Thievery Corporation/Night Glitter), Alonso Lujan (Director of Photography) and two women that created the visual eye candy, Shawna Parvin (hair) and Lesley Bowles (makeup) that shot the video in one 14-hour day.
"By the last scene we were all completely exhausted and I was shaking and overwrought with tears but it worked with the scene so we just moved through it," said Noëlle Hampton. "I have to admit, we also pushed our amazing extras into some uncomfortable places and they were all so accommodating. We are so proud of this video. It was
Barbara FG's amazing vision and perspective and we trusted her completely."
Led by frontwoman Noëlle Hampton and electric guitarist André Moran, The Belle
Sounds create lush soundscapes intertwined with beautiful harmonies and emotive lyricism. Their sound is reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac, Neko Case, Aimee Mann, The
Shins and Jenny Lewis, yet exudes its own power and depth through Noëlle's heart-wrenching vocals and her and André's guitar interplay. Other artists featured on the album include band member Emily Shirley on keys, synths and vocals, studio drummer Evan Hutchings, local Austin bassist John Michael(Night Glitter, Charlie Sexton), Kris
Nelson on bass and backing vocals on several tracks along with Brian Standefer (Alejandro Escovedo) on cello. Noëlle and André enlisted the help of producer/engineer/keyboard player
David Boyle (Patty Griffin, Fiona Apple, Robert Plant, Eddie Vedder, Okkervil River, Shinyribs) for the new project and recorded it at Church House Studio in Austin.
THE SEA WITHIN" TRACKLIST IS AS FOLLOWS:
Inside Out
Like A Villain
Afterglow
Innsaei
The Informant
Legend of the
Silver Moon
Safe From Love
Transcendental
Olivia
When You Lose Someone
Setting of the Summer Sun
California natives turned Austin mainstays The Belle
Sounds have made a name for themselves as seductive folk-pop aficionados, creating lush soundscapes intertwined with effervescent harmonies and beautiful lyricism. Their sound at different times will evoke Fleetwood Mac, Neko Case, Aimee Mann, The
Shins or Jenny Lewis, and yet they stand out in their own unique sonic space with their effortless melodies, floating guitars and reflective storytelling. Fronted by husband and wife team Noëlle Hampton and André Moran, this five-piece indie-folk-rock band gets inside the heads & hearts of listeners with their energetic live shows and organic, honest recordings. "The Sea Within," their newest studio album to be released on July 20, 2018, dives deep into human behavior, anxiety, America's addictions, love, seduction, espionage and searching for peace in the world today. Produced, recorded and mixed by
David Boyle (Patty Griffin/Okkervil River/Fiona Apple/Robert Plant/Suzanna Choffel) at Church House Studio in Austin, Texas, their sound is elevated through these recordings.
The Belle Sounds' journey started in San Francisco where Noëlle and André were each pursuing their own music careers, playing in bands, writing and recording. They immediately fell in love and soon after they began playing together things started to really take off. They opened for a variety of notable artists such as Bob Dylan, Wilco, Chris Isaak,
Sarah McLachlan, John Hiatt, Richard Thompson, Train, Jewel, Richard Thompson, Pat Benatar and Graham Parker, among others. They saw their songs placed in film and television, released three albums under Noëlle's name and she appeared in the first iTunes commercial alongside such celebrated songwriters as Iggy Pop, Aimee Mann,
Jeff Tweedy and Michael Penn. The duo had made a name for themselves in California and beyond, but craved a change in their day-to-day lifestyle. In the early 2000s they visited Austin while on tour with their band and they became enamored with the city and decided to relocate there permanently. They recorded one more album, "Thin Line," under Noëlle's name with producer Mark Hallman (Ani Difranco, Carole King,
Eliza Gilkyson), and then her writing began to veer away from Americana and back to its lush, indie/folk-rock beginnings. In 2012, with a batch of new songs, the couple traveled to East Nashville to record the eponymous "The Belle Sounds" in a week-long whirlwind session with Neilson Hubbard, full of creativity and sonic discovery. The Belle
Sounds developed out of that experience. Their EP, "Black Stone," was later released in 2014, also produced by Hubbard. In 2016, The Belle
Sounds were named one of Austin's "Best New Bands" by the Austin Chronicle
Music Poll and The City of Austin proclaimed April 13, 2017 to officially be "The Belle
Sounds Day." They have performed at ACL Moody Theater, 3Ten ACL Live, One-2-One Bar, The Saxon Pub, Cheer Up Charlies and more. Their highly anticipated album, "The Sea Within," will without a doubt make waves in the Austin music scene and beyond.
For more information on The Belle Sounds, please see: www.thebellesounds.com.
