aaamusic | On 19, Aug 2011

Eric Sarmiento‘s new record, The Friend Is This Animal, out NOW (Aug 16th) on Alchemist Records, is an album so sublime, nuanced and fully formed that most will think it couldn’t possibly have come from someone they’ve never heard of, but Eric’s back story is as complicated and intricate as the album itself.

It is a story of brushes with broader recognition like winning the International Woody Guthrie songwriting competition; releasing the critically acclaimed indie masterpiece “look!” with his band The Pistol Arrows; playing gigs from Paris to New York, Austin to Tokyo; and co-founding the Alchemist Records collective label.

But the past is always a shadow of the present and the paths that led Eric to his current work branch out in all directions.  From the synth driven, melodic rush of tracks like So She Says, Alejandra, and Strange Power to the deep and unearthly beauty of songs like Husbands and Wives, Awake, Dust and We Waited For Nothing, this album is something new, fresh and strikingly original.  It has the complexity of jazz or classical, while retaining the appeal and dressed in the garments of pop, techno, R+B and rock and roll.  Eric’s lyrics are similarly unique in their ability to express complex subjects, feelings, relationships and ideas in a way that is immediate but yields increasing depth over many repeat listens.

For those new to Eric’s work this will seem like something of a bolt out of the blue. Many will likely be intrigued enough to look into his preceding work.  In any case, The Friend Is This Animal is a miraculous achievement in original modern music and will likely make Eric Sarmiento less of a well kept secret.

Eric Sarmiento on Bandcamp: http://ericsarmiento.bandcamp.com/album/the-friend-is-this-animal

The Friend Is This Animal Tracklist

1. Alejandra
2. So She Says
3. Strange Power
4. Dust
5. There’s So Much
6. Bilumsman
7. These Little Winters
8. Sunset Burned The City Down
9. We Waited For Nothing
10. Husbands And Wives
11. Awake