Press
Download High res photos of the band.
Download 2009-10 presskit
The Silent League is a difficult band to trace. Formed in 2004 in Brooklyn by Justin Russo (at the time, keyboardist for Mercury Rev during the classic “Deserter’s Songs”/”All is Dream” era), The Silent League may sometimes appear like an on-again/off-again relationship between a collective of musicians interested only in periodically making records, playing shows, and disappearing again. This may be true. While nobody in New York ever seems quite sure whether or not the band still exists (their second record, Of Stars And Other Somebodies was never even released in N America, and is due for re-release), the name carries weight all over the city. Lay tracks through the past 5-6 years’ worth of new music (take Arcade Fire, Beirut, St. Vincent, Stars Like Fleas, Bishop Allen…) and you’re going to run over more than a handful of people who began with or spent time creating music under the name The Silent League…many of them still do, you just don’t know it. “We don’t really care about maintaining a place in the industry. There is enough noise in the world and everyone has other work to busy themselves with”, says Russo, “we try to keep it new, detached…we make music when we think we have something to say that isn’t already being said”.
The Silent League released a new record, it’s third, in Jan 2010, “But You’ve Always Been The Caretaker…”. This time with the idiosyncratic producer Shannon Fields at the helm (founder and producer of the unclassifiable Brooklyn collective Stars Like Fleas, and whose musical credits include Helado Negro, Miho Hatori, Doveman, and many projects that ignore rock and pop altogether), the band spent time at various upstate farmhouse studios with recording and mixing engineer D. James Goodwin (Scary Mansion, The Bravery) crafting a somewhat different record. More explicit is the group’s affection for the softrock and artrock power ballads of the 70s (the group initially bonded over a common love of ELO, Todd Rundgren, Roxy Music and Bread), but the moodier and more unhinged qualities that have always been subtexts in the band’s music have been pushed forward. It is an evocative, jarring, sometimes disturbing and densely woven record that seems nearly to ignore contemporary indierock but which sounds very little like its antecedents or any obvious contemporary reference points. Rather than chasing the endlessly tiresome “reinvention of rock”, The Silent League, with one foot in sterling songcraft and the other in the Brooklyn diaspora, has sculpted stunningly fresh new music with the decapitated pieces of rock’s MOR family tree.
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PRAISE FOR “BUT YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN THE CARETAKER”
"soars like a giddy Arcade Fire…a near-perfect neo-psychedelic wonder" * * * * MOJO
"the Silent League have turned into the great band they always threatened to be" 9/10 Popmatters
"Grandiose and intimate….the League's space pop symphonies major in fleet-footed opulence" The Independent
"an album of such accomplished majesty.. This is hairs on the back of your neck stuff." TheLineOfBestFit
"quite astonishing loveliness" The Mail On Sunday
"The Silent League doesn't fall short of its reputation, bringing new meaning to soft rock" FILTER
"chamber pop with Yoshimi ambition" New York Times
"shimmering orchestral pop" WASHINGTON POST
"Caretaker is the Silent's League's crowning achievement and one of last year's best releases" BLURTmagazine
"The Silent League's majestic, smiling-through-sad-eyes music is both rapture and deliverance" Indieweek
"the Silent League celebrates the release of a textured new album, But You've Always Been the Caretaker, produced by Shannon Fields (Stars Like Fleas). Expect elysian orchestral climaxes, whimsical interludes from the brass section and boisterous group harmonies around maestro Justin Russo's lonesome vocals. Beautiful stuff. " Time Out New York
"the Silent League deal in enormous hooks and enormous sounds, wrapped in the blurry focus of the '70s soft-rock they hold dear….set to make their biggest splash yet" VILLAGE VOICE
"LAVISH…a massive, sweeping record" NY Press
"I'm loving this choral masterpiece by the mysterious Brooklyn band" Larry Tee!
"…Caretaker"contains some of The Silent League's most explosive ideas in regard to genres like glam-rock and psychedelia" Obscuresound (they got that right)
"The Silent League, with one foot in sterling songcraft and the other in the Brooklyn diaspora, has sculpted stunningly fresh new music with the decapitated pieces of rock's MOR family tree. Their name carries weight all over town although no-one is sure if they really exist" MusicRemedy
"But You've Always Been the Caretaker such a stunning record" JohnnyLeather
"miniature suites to Marc Bolan's sentimental swagger" OneTrackMind
"soft rock and art rock through the funhouse mirror…magical" Under the radar
"But You've Always Been the Caretaker might already be one of the year's best albums" 20Watts
"MAJESTIC" EXAMINER.COM
"a strange, beautiful album" jambase
"Layer after layer of soaring and melodic sounds combine in a track that feels filled with both youthful exuberance and tired wisdom" The Burning Ear
SOME PRAISE FOR “OF STARS AND OTHER SOMEBODIES” (2007)
[4/5] "bewitching, lush, orchestral beauty…will leave you craving more" The Guardian
“Russo's Flaming Lips-like vision of indie chamber music is now fully realized…the budding promise of their debut blooming into something truly uplifting" Q Magazine
“expansive and epic" The Sun
“Of Stars takes Silent League's widescreen vision further...majesterial" NME
“a pop group of rare majesty…echoes the great American artists of the 1970's and puts a whole new slant on the 'orchestral pop' movement… should be savoured by as many people as possible"
MuiscOMH.com
[4.5/5] "It's hard to imagine a more brilliantly arranged album being released this year" Gigwise
“After touching on that elusive Mercury Rev / Flaming Lips sense of grace The Silent League blossom… goes beyond cred-by-association" Uncut
“embracing bolder, bigger spheres…like the ghost of George Harrison guiding Crazy Horse…Broken Social Scene covering Lennon…Sublime, joyous and occasionally deeper and darker than all the Oceans. ‘Of Stars…’ is their mini-epic” Clash Magazine
“a thing of beauty…a feast of ambitious summertime pop rock, soft rock at heart and proud of it… this album feels like the first collection that truly represents the glorious live impact…[it] has the instantly timeless quality of a great album”
Rough Trade
“underwritten by an arch pop awareness...epic flights of melancholy pop, flavoured with vintage soft-rock and Americana”
Wire Magazine
“intimate, confessional songs set to the backdrop of seventies infused soft rock with lush orchestral embellishment and delicate arrangements…like Arcade Fire covering The Band…simply staggering" The Line of Best Fit
“immediately engaging…some of the most enjoyable songwriting I have heard all year "
Obscure Sound.com
“the kind of record that makes you want to take the day off work so you can play it over and over again...a masterpiece” Word Magazine
“[8/10] majestic, glorious…full of pomp, brass…Arcade Fire dynamism” Rocksound
“**** lush…swoon-pop [that] taps a gently psychedelic vein, with shades of Lambchop and ELO…dreamy. ” The Independent
“The Silent League are brilliant in the Flaming-Lips-ish sense of the word. Brilliant” CMU Daily
“…they fast become one of those few that soundtrack your life…heartbreakingly captivating…a formidable group of innovative minds…really a must-have album” Glasswerk
SOME PRAISE FOR “THE ORCHESTRA, SADLY, HAS REFUSED” (2004)
“Highly Recommended…Brian Wilson’s legacy shimmers through the songs…grandly expansive” New York Times
“Importantly, the orchestra joyfully acquiesced…[The Silent League] create a lush, expansive orchestral pop record…sublime” Rolling Stone
[4/5] "wistful pocket symphonies…a splendid corollary to Mercury Rev’s 1998 pastoral masterpiece, Deserter’s Songs" Mojo
“[Q Recommends – 4/5] a sepia-toned Wild West utopian dream…Reserve space and time for it” Q Magazine
“a sweeping masterpiece” Rough Trade