Damn Tall Buildings – Sleeping Dogs (Damn Tall Buildings, 2022)
“Sleeping Dogs” is the third album by American roots music band Damn Tall Buildings. The joyful trio delivers an engaging mix of bluegrass, roots rock, old time music, Celtic influences, and jazz swing with rich vocal harmonies and dual male/female lead vocals.
Damn Tall Buildings includes multi-instrumentalist and primary lyricist Max Capistran on guitar and banjo; bassist Sasha Dubyk; and fiddler Avery Ballotta. For this occasion, the acoustic trio invited additional musicians on trumpet, drums, flutes, lap steel guitar, and keyboards. On “Sleeping Dogs” you’ll find stellar vocal and instrumental work.
The witty lyrics are fun, ironic, and encourage the listener to enjoy life and take pleasure and meaning from the little things that keep us all connected and maturing.
“Sleeping Dogs” is an independent release, produced and recorded by the band itself, back and forth between Sasha’s parents’ house in the south New Jersey shore and in Max and Sasha’s apartment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn (New York).
Max says, “With us taking the recording process into our own hands, we were able to set our studio up wherever we saw fit, which completely changed the recording process for us… With this new arrangement, we were able to really take our time, which gave us more freedom to really explore the songs without the pressure of running out of studio days. We all love the beach, the ocean, and surfing, so we set up shop at the house, smack-dab in the middle of hurricane season in the northeast, so we were literally doing takes, then running out to the beach to catch some of the finest waves New Jersey has to offer. I’m pretty sure Hurricane Larry deserves co-producer credits, actually.”
Damn Tall Buildings’s members come from various parts of the United States (New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Montana), although they were born as a band while attending Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They started as buskers (street performers) on Newbury Street in Boston, started touring nationally, and then moved the band to Brooklyn, New York, in 2017.
Max says, “Brooklyn has an endless influence on our music. Yemeni music on iPhone speakers at the deli; reggaeton from the street side auto shop across the street, rattling our windowpanes; West African guitar rhythms on the walk to the train. It’s insane. We love it.”
Damn Tall Buildings earlier recordings include two albums, Cure-All (2014) and Don’t Look Down (2019) as well as a self-titled EP in 2015.
The lineup on “Sleeping Dogs” includes: Avery Ballotta on violin, banjo and vocals; Max Capistran on guitar, banjo and vocals; and Sasha Dubyk on upright bass and vocals. Guests: Emily Gervaise Moran on guitar; Anh Phung on flute; Micah Cowher on drums; Lars Thorson on lap steel guitar; Dylan McCarthy on mandolin; Garrett Eaton on trumpet; and Dan Cardinal on keyboard.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.