US / THEM: Cast Spells releases Daytrotter session

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

March 26, 2010

click image above to listen and/or download

Cast Spells releases Daytrotter session

Revered and innovative exclusive recording site Daytrotter has posted a powerful session by Cast Spells, the nom-de-tune of Maps & Atlases frontman Dave Davison. The 3-song set, recorded at the Daytrotter studios is available for free download and streaming HERE.

Davison's heartfelt and charismatic performances are unparalleled -- check out this Glass Room session video of "Potted Plant" (a different version also performed on the Daytrotter session.) The Daytrotter recording is a perfect distillation of what some have dubbed the Cast Spells sound as "Peter Gabriel leading The Shins."

Check out the MP3 for Cast Spells' "All Brass" from the recent split EP with Good Old War HERE. Check out Cast Spells' 2009 debut, Bright Works and Baton HERE.

Daytrotter founder Sean Moeller eloquently describes the Cast Spells session:

"Davison tends to think about things in a manner of how they affect the balance of everything - of what it means to be in this life, in that life and how any actions might send ripples through the common cartilage, rocking everything just slightly or devastatingly off its base. He takes us into the woozy escapes of a mind that wanders here and there, but ultimately finds itself stuck in the stampede of such crushing proximity to so many others and a reliance on needing everything to fit together harmoniously. A song like "Potted Plant" is a great example of the forces in collision, of a man of nomadic nature still trying to fit into some kind of domesticity that will keep him on a sunny windowsill. Then again, there's also that streaming feeling that running away from it all and returning to the backwoods isn't out of the question.

"Davison sends us into a world that feels as if it was originally given to us in such a different state, but there's an innocent belief that it can be rearranged to be a likeness of its previous self once again with a little doing. It feels as if we've added all of the extra coats of paint, built it into a disgrace that could be much simpler, could be much prettier. We slide a hand figuratively into his as we listen to Cast Spells and launch ourselves out the door and down steep grassy hills at reckless speeds, knowing that it's likely we'll spill without time to get our hands out in front of us to brace the fall, but we'll spring back up, comment with a chuckle about the deep green stain on our knees and elbows and continue to follow him - recklessly."

Davison recently returned from touring in Europe with yet another of his bands, Hey Tonal and is currently set to release the debut LP by Maps & Atlases on Barsuk Records.The songwriter also heads back into the studio soon to record the full length for Cast Spells on Sargent House.