Michael Macrone

ICICLES AND SAND

A veteran of the Providence, RI rock & roll band The Prime Numbers and the Bay Area acid folk combo Dreamland, Michael Macrone finally strikes out on his own at the tender age of 55, with Icicles and Sand. A survey of pop/rock styles from his (and the genre’s) infancy to maturity, Icicles and Sand blends power pop and post-punk, folk and psychedelia.

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While its inspirations are many (you might hear echoes of Bacharach/David, R.E.M., Elvis Costello, Lennon/McCartney, Teenage Fanclub, Love, Nick Lowe, The Byrds, Goffin/King, Todd Rundgren, Simon & Garfunkel, The Zombies, XTC, and even Neil Diamond), Icicles and Sand plays as a coherent whole. It is a tribute at once to the art of the radio set and to the art of the album. Sounds develop and flow from song section to song section, and from song to song.

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Producer Rob Seidenberg (president of Fiesta Red Records and the artist behind the recording project Globe Factory No. 23) brings clarity, punch, and balance to the mixes. He is also the principal musical contributor besides Macrone. Tim Bennett of Chicago’s The Tornaparts takes the drums on two tracks, and Abe Baruck on another, while Sam Scribner lends his sax to a fourth. Macrone otherwise sings and performs each of his 14 original songs.

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All these songs were written between 2013 and 2015, save for two. Track 3, “Strange Courtship,” began as a collaboration with Seidenberg in 2001, only to be completed this year. The final track, “Someone Else’s Fantasy,” is a very old song with new lyrics; the arrangement dates to Macrone’s years in the Prime Numbers, circa 1980.