SUSHIROBO
THE LIGHT-FINGERED FEELING OF SUSHIROBO
In a musical environment oversaturated with ingenues eager to digitally tweak, bleep and bloop via samplers and grooveboxes, Sushirobo rebels with headphone-friendly analog fonk that has little to do with the cold, calculated world of studio gimmickry. Theirs is a warmer quirk -- one that's aimed at the stratosphere, but grounded in something much more organic. Working within the parameters of a traditional four-piece rock outfit, these Seattleites have concocted otherworldly compositions glazed with the candy sheen of psychedelic post-punk pioneers Pere Ubu and Wire. That eclecticity, coupled with the juicy hooks of early-era Brainiac or modern-day heroes The Dismemberment Plan and Enon, makes for irresistibly ambitious deliciousness. Sushirobo will have you dancing in your moon boots before anyone's told you you've been launched into orbit by the rock.

Always innovative, the quartet makes sure to stay far, far away from any guitar sounds they deem old hat. After all, they're from the Northwest--a community that's got its share of like-minded pop rocksters, notes lead vocalist/guitarist Arthur Roberts. Although the band commits to operating within the confines of r'n'r instrumentation, their hunger for unorthodox guitar tones is insatiable. The members of Sushirobo got their rock on in past bands Spyglass and Peach (on Caroline Records), and committed to reaching for the tonal stars in '99 upon the band's formation. "We just decided that we didn't want to use any more traditional guitar sounds--there are only a few on the record. No Marshall stacks here," Roberts quips.

Swelling cosmic tones, climbing basslines and literate lyrical content pack weaving punches designed to baffle and delight. Sushirobo's retro time capsule approach skronks, wiggles, jives, and bomps like a hybrid creature, vital and unaware of its own oddity or its uniqueness as an organic entity. The fact that Sushirobo opts to create such a wide smorgasbord of sonic tomfoolery using minimal electronic interference when so many Macintosh-centric programs are readily available is a testament to their resourceful creativity. SR generate all their sounds by hand, not by plug and key.

Even more remarkably, the band's newest and most maturely dynamic release, The Light-Fingered Feeling of Sushirobo, was built and recorded largely from jam sessions using unconventional songwriting techniques. Don't mistake the band's love of experimentation and improvisation for a lazy mode of happenstance songwriting, though. Superfluous noodlings are outlawed, leaving only the good stuff behind. No jam band sentiment, no druggy musings. By mining gold from months of laborious practices and stringing offbeat hooks, time signatures and lyrical concepts together, Sushirobo's compositions possess an otherworldly freshness. "We wanted to stray from sticking to verses and choruses and try different arrangements," explains guitarist Dave Einmo.

Indeed, the band's robotic funknotics have truly been taken up a notch since their last critically loved release, Drawings and Garbage Structures (songs from which provided a trippy soundtrack to MTV's Real World and Road Rules in 2002). Laden with effects-heavy percussion and meandering melodies that pulsate toward nonlinear nirvana, The Light-Fingered Feeling of Sushirobo is packed with pockets of surprise and whimsy that were born out of instinct rather than calculus. "It seems like you lose something the more you refine an idea," comments Roberts. The release's jetpack fueled dance grooves shine with the same childlike preciousness as a carefully crafted tinfoil helmet, and they're just as much fun.

Check out Sushirobo on the road this summer and fall as they tour behind the September release on Pattern 25 Records.

USA: HOPPER PR/PRESS CONTACT JESSICA HOPPER 312.243.0970 JESSICA@HOPPERPR.COM

EUROPE: PADDY FORWOOD PR/ PAD.FORWOOD@VIRGIN.NET

Outburn calls it "a fantastic, heady album better experienced than explained." Rockpile writes "This quartet seems to have crafted an album of, dare I say, indie-rock excellence?" Alternative Press says 'Sushirobo throw the gauntlet to garage bands who see the future as filled with three chords, a bridge and a chorus." Devil in the Woods call Sushirobo "A sharp response to those who think indie rock isn't capable of a few new tricks."