The Sour Notes

Don't let the name they chose, The Sour Notes, keep you away from their music. It sure hasn't stopped anyone else.

That's them. On the left is bassist Amarah Ulghani, and right behind her is singer/songwriter/guitarist Jared Boulanger. That's mucho-instrumentalist Elaine Greer in the center there; and behind her is drummer Andrew Stevens. Looking on is guitarist Chris Page.

Here at Austin Independent Music we typically don't cover bands you've heard of, but this band you've heard about already. Probably - their website's Press page has a litany of links to reviews and other coverage. In the midst of our rummaging about the social media-ized world, we couldn't help but bump up against them, virtually, and be impressed: They're not like us, they're actually nice people.

Boulanger started the group in Houston back in '08, but then moved it here, where he lured Page and some other folks to the project, whereupon they commenced to record and gig and carve fans out of the Austin populace and realms beyond. The staff has undergone the inevitable changes, with Travis Hackett, Brandi Dipietro, Kelly DeWitt, Erin Mikulenka, and Taylor Steinberg moving in and moving on. But 2010 saw the formation of the band as you see 'em here.

They sit snugly in the "Alternative Indie Pop" category, and their sound is guitars + singing + solid rhythm + occasional vocal harmonies + occasional keyboards, so the designation sticks. But spend some time going through their recordings and you'll find a pattern of too-diverse-for-pop, too-bold-for-alternative, too-experimental-for-the-labels. If you're determined not to like them, just say they are too audaciously inventive.

Check out this cut to see why they remain local favorites, with the easy-to-like vocals + harmonies + slicing guitars, with the nice progression into dissonance:

There are 6 releases in The Sour Notes' discography (that we know about), with 2010's "It's Not Gonna Be Pretty" getting mucho kudos. You've got to check out track 1, with it's easy-to-love melodic construction and harmonies:

We alluded to their tendency to experiment; give a minute for this cut from their latest, see how unfearing they are to play around with dissonance:

After that one, you may be tempted to think they've earned the Sour Notes identity. Try this near-lullaby number on before you get too judgmental:

They've just gotten back into town from their summer tour (Houston, Denton, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, etc), and were the band de jour at the Paper Cuts showcase hosted by The Chronicle:


You might have missed them before, but you've got a chance to catch them at the Ditch The Fest Fest on September 17th, or the week after (9/25/11) at the Pecan Street Festival (4PM, Trinity Stage). After that, they've booked shows at the Mohawk, the Highball, Frank, and other venues we're not privy to at this point. You can make it to one of these shows, and you should.

Let's leave you with their latest, "Last Looks", which this review calls "...a flat-out perfect set of sweet, ultra-melodic, shiny-clean power-pop songs, with all the rough edges sanded smooth...":

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Find out more about The Sour Notes on FaceBook, Twitter, Tumbler, MySpace, BandCamp, and Home Base.

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