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We’re pretty psyched that after a three year hiatus, tuneful Easthampton, Massachusetts quartet Red Door Exchange has put their unclassifiable spatial rock back on wax. A warning to those unfamiliar with the erratic nature of this four piece, “August” is not an instant album. Sure, you have opener “Moonshine,” amiable and spunky in an off-kilter jug band meets Apples in Stereo kind of way. But, for the most part, you’ll have to sit with this one and let it sink in. The interlocking guitar licks of “Lost Son’s Rays,” which takes many cues from Built to Spill’s crunchiest stuff, are best left to roam in your mind’s eye for a bit. And, the Leonard Cohen-style drawl of “Archways” is significantly better enjoyed after letting its versus drift you away for a while (like a lackadaisical cubicle daydream.) Give this one a chance to expand on you; sure, it’s a bit challenging, but oh so rewarding.
Alex Rendon - Pure Honey, thehoneycomb.com
Behind the Beat: An August Re-beginning
Red Door Exchange returns with a new album
Four years ago, Easthampton-based Red Door Exchange were on the cover of the Advocate, just after releasing their first full-length recording. After touring to support that album, the band went on a lengthy hiatus, but they're back with a new album called August.
The spacy guitar and electronica sounds they used to make have been replaced with rootsier, stripped-down tendencies that place the band more firmly in rock territory. I caught up to the band's songwriter Jesse Pietroniro recently, to ask about the band's evolution.
Click here for the full interview with James Heflin - The Valley Advocate
Red Door Exchange matches the compelling vocals and complex guitar of Jesse Lee Pietroniro with the ethereal singing, matchless harmonies, and sweeping keyboards of Kate Stephens. Rock-solid backing is provided by the pulsating bass of Jim Elliott and the poly-rhythmic pleasures of Michael Wyzik's drums. Pietroniro is a highly inventive songwriter who has dined on a daily breakfast of the intricacies of the Beatles and Pink Floyd, as well as such modern folk and rock influences as the Ben Folds Five and other intrepid troubadours. While some of these influences are fleetingly apparent in the guitar/keyboard arrangements, Pietroniro's lyrics are concise, stream-of-consciousness observations on life and relationships, sung with passion, or sometimes obtusely chanted to the rhythm of the song as in the album's opener, "No Good Buddy." Stephens provides some of the album's most ambrosian backing and a Gilli Smyth/Gong style "space whisper" on several songs, including the Vashti Bunyan-like, pastoral beauty of "Whaddya Know," the panoramic simplicity of "Sunny Bone, " as well as the epic instrumental "Dawn of a Red Church." Even on the band's more radio-ready tunes Pietroniro finds a way to steer the music away from the predictable and into exploratory territory with his armada of cunning guitar soundscapes and versatile vocals. Red Door Exchange is a perfect example of how the modern 'Indi' band thrives from the freedom to explore and experiment, though one suspects they are not far from major label recognition.
Lahri Bond - Dirty Linen
The Red Door Exchange put on a really nice electric set warming up for West Indian Girl two nights ago at the Horse. This band is a gem, producing some of the most interesting rock music that I have heard anywhere in some time. (The last time I had the chance to see them, at the 11s some months back, they were doing a mainly acoustic set. The band is so powerful doing the electric stuff and I was glad to see they have gone back to LOUD). Pietroniro’s guitar sound was great – he writes some of the best chord progressions I have ever heard in rock – and the whole band sound was great in the Horse. Small crowd for West Indian Girl, unless it filled up after RDX. Great gig.
Posted 4.7.06 by duluoz1922 on Soundboard, a Masslive.com forum
Door Re Me
Steve Rullman continues his run as one of the area's most consistently creative talent scouts. Thanks to Rullman's wandering eye and good taste, the Western Massachusetts-based Red Door Exchange is making a three-date run through South Florida this week. RDE plays the kind of smirking, intimate rock that made Sebadoh and Yo La Tengo perennial faves of thinking-people's-rock types. Sure, it's emotional, but don't call it emo. And yes, it's quirky and lofty, but don't call it twee. These guys (and a girl) balance a pop-songwriting sensibility with a deft instrumental imagination, puncturing brash fuzz guitar with pin-prick piano, swerving from pounding rock riffs into swaying choral harmonies. Subtle layers of percussion, electronic flourish, and wah-wah guitar add atmosphere; songs unfold with multiple movements, like ambitious micro-operas. It ain't easy music to classify, which is just the way the art-school kids and fuzzy-sweater set like it. And you should too.
Jonathan Zwickel - New Times
(Review also available at newtimesbpb.com)
The inside cover of Red Door Exchange’s self-titled CD is a psychedelic black and white silhouette of the band, a huge black daisy, and a starry grey sky. The image is mysterious, with no faces revealed, and the daisy dwarfing the silhouettes. A clear plastic covers the picture, and gives the impression that the group is within a bubble in an otherwise limitless sky. It’s an image that parallels the band’s music, eerie and abstract, yet solid and true. Kate Stephens provides backup vocals on many of the tracks, lending an angelic, choral sound to the work, and preventing lead singer Jesse Lee Pietroniro’s straight-up rock voice from sounding, well, too straight-up rock.
Red Door Exchange has composed songs with catchy beats and pop attraction. They’ve also come through with some longer pieces, namely the seven-and-a-half minute “Dawn on a Red Church.” “Sunny Bone” is deliberate and symphonic, and sparse lyrics accent the largely instrumental piece. Stephens carries the melody in a voice so pure it’s difficult to hear when it fades and the instruments rise. The slow, shimmering cadence carries over into “Our Day Off,” then abruptly switches gears to a distorted, guitar-infused bridge, which sounds suspiciously like the Cranberries’ “Promises.” Pietroniro’s voice flails like a controlled seizure in “War of Love,” establishing it as a natural choice for the film score of any Chuck Palahniuk adaptation. (Self-released)
April Wachtel - Northeast Performer
(Review also available at performermag.com)
Sheryl's Top 10 CDs for 2005
Alternating between crunching guitar chords (that seem to have been summoned from the depths of the sea) and ethereal female harmonies, Red Door Exchange has produced a rock album that ranks as one of the most accomplished to come out of local scene in recent years. The band, which hails from Easthampton, wears its influences on its sleeve (Radiohead, late Pixies), but guitarist/singer Jesse Lee Pietroniro's songs are both original and strong. The three-song suite of "Whaddya Know," "Sunny Bone" and "Our Day Off" is achingly beautiful and their success owes much to the vocals of keyboardist Kate Stephens, bassist Jim Elliott's fluid lines and drummer Michael Wyzik's tasty fills.
Sheryl Hunter - The Recorder, Greenfield MA
Red Door Exchange is the November Adopted Band of the Month on WRSI, 93.9 The River. The album is added to the station's rotation, with selections featured approximately four times a day along with interview clips, and a live in-studio performance on November 15th. "No Good Buddy" is currently receiving the most airplay; requests for any songs off the album can be made any time by calling The River request line at 413-586-8939.
Red Door Exchange splatters the cover of the Valley Advocate , with a review of the new album and a Q&A inside.
[Jeremy Saffer Photo]
Archived Press: 2003 2004
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