Send "Hurricane Bells " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 Steve Schiltz, the mastermind behind NYC project Hurricane Bells, apparently slaved over this recording, mentioning in a press release that he was “inspired by Jack White’s rule of self-imposed limitations,” so he worked to make every flare perfect. And on songs such as the most-likely singles “Possibilities” and “Let’s Go,” he shows off a little more firepower this second go-around, adding some hard-hitting electronica to the mix, but for the most part, Tides and Tales suffers from the same hazy boredom as 2009’s debut, Tonight Is the Ghost, pouring dreamy guitar over Cure-like bass for almost the entirety of the album, which acts more like a droning professor than a lullaby as it lures the listener to sleep. And it makes one wonder: if this is Schiltz slaving away, then what are we in for when he gets lazy? There’s a reason why the album comes off as so underwhelming: the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack. Hurricane Bells was lucky enough (or at least it seemed so) to be included on the hit series with its Tonight Is the Ghost b-side, “Monsters.” One of the loudest songs of the collection, “Monsters” hit as hard as a My Morning Jacket track, with its opening fuzz hammer-on and guitar squeal, and it set new fans of the band to believe that this was the band’s sound, only to surprise them when they downloaded Tonight Is the Ghost and found it was a much quieter (and less exciting) record than “Monsters” originally prepared them for. So it’s only all the more disappointing that two years later, Schiltz didn’t delve deeper into new territory after putting out such a breakthrough hit on a Platinum-selling soundtrack. The opening track teases us with the same kind of beginning that “Monsters” supplied, reverberating amp feedback over a watery guitar, but it soon cuts out and is replaced with sad piano for the remaining two minutes, and that sadness continues for the majority of the album. Minus the lo-fi promises of “Possibilities,” “Let’s Go,” and the Simon and Garfunkel-esque “The Ghost of Her,” Tides and Tales reverts to the same tone Tonight Is the Ghost originally supplied, lacking bridges and crescendos and instead riding two-note guitar riffs over a droning percussion beat (such as on “Before I’m Gone”) or dwelling on five-minute acoustic meanderings (such as on “Flowers In the Dirt”)....full text |
| Pledgemusic |
| Hello everyone, I and we have made a new Hurricane Bells record, named Tides and Tales. The album was recorded in much the same way as the last one: I produced, recorded and mixed nearly all of it over the last few months. This time, I asked a few of my friends to play on it. If you’ve seen a Hurricane Bells show in the last 6 months/year, then you’ve seen the group who recorded most of the new album. We had a great time and it sounds awesome. For you Blue October fans, I was able to get Justin Furstenfeld to play on a couple of tracks. And for you Scout fans, Ashen is singing, too. We also have Dave Doobinin from the band Son Of George singing on one track. My manager Chris and I have talked a lot about how to release the record. And in the DIY and independent spirit, it will be coming out on my label, Invisible Brigades. We do most things ourselves, but when releasing an album and hoping to tour around it, we need some additional support. So we have decided to use PledgeMusic to help. With them, you’ll be able to Pledge support and then you get stuff – exclusive vinyl and shirts, signed discs, a house concert, album prints/posters, “Twilight” DVDs, one of my beautiful old Gibson guitars… all kinds of things....full text |
| Spin |
| Hurricane Bells went from being Longwave frontman Steve Schlitz's low-key side project to his main concern right about the moment "Monsters" soundtracked Robert Pattinson strutting through his opening scene in Twilight: New Moon. To say this sophomore effort overflows with songs well suited for future Twilight sequels isn't a dig: Schlitz has a knack for turning dark thoughts into indie-pop candy. "The Possibilities" is a warm, blippy ode to the joys of momentarily forgetting your world is falling apart; "If This Night Is Over" wraps a dying relationship in an intoxicating acoustic waltz. And almost every other song depicts the moment when love begins to curdle (or even decay) with such melody and charm that Schlitz makes it almost sound like fun....full text |
Hurricane Bells lyrics
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