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10132 - THE ARCS - YOURS, DREAMILY. (2015)

THE ARCS
''YOURS, DREAMILY''
SEPTEMBER 4 2015
46:05

1 Once We Begin (Intro) 00:32
2 Outta My Mind 03:34
3 Put a Flower in Your Pocket 03:55
4 Pistol Made of Bones 03:23
5 Everything You Do (You Do For You) 03:07
6 Stay In My Corner 03:19
7 Cold Companion 03:55
8 The Arc 03:52
9 Nature's Child 03:12
10 Velvet Ditch 03:12
11 Chains of Love 03:11
12 Come & Go 04:00
13 Rosie (Ooh La La) 03:46
14 Searching the Blue 03:01

The Arcs are:
Dan Auerbach
Leon Michels
Richard Swift
Homer Steinweiss
Nick Movshon
also on the album are Kenny Vaughan and Mariachi Flor de Toloache


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ABOUT THE ALBUM/WIKIPEDIA


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REVIEW
Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Cut swiftly -- no more than two weeks at three different studios spread coast to coast -- the Arcs' 2015 debut Yours, Dreamily does bear a spontaneous air, a record that enjoys its hazy detours as much as its sturdy foundations. This blend of airy sonic swirls and R&B-influenced rock formalism feels familiar, perhaps because it is the aesthetic that's driven Arcs leader Dan Auerbach during the heady mid-career heyday of his main gig, the Black Keys. Once the Ohio garage blues duo hooked up with producer Danger Mouse for 2008's Attack & Release, the Black Keys incorporated impressionistic soundscapes to their guitar growl but Yours, Dreamily flips the equation, favoring feel over grind. Certainly, much of this shift is due to the Arcs being a very different band than the Black Keys. Recorded with drummer Patrick Carney recovering from a shoulder injury in early 2015, Auerbach surrounds himself with like-minded travelers -- bassist Richard Swift is a member of the Keys' touring lineup, while other members have a history with the retro-soul specialists at Daptone -- and, appropriately, there's a powerful soulful undercurrent pulsating throughout Yours, Dreamily, an emphasis on supple grooves that contrasts neatly with the brute force of the Black Keys. More than anything, this full-blooded foray into classic soul -- based on this album, the Arcs' love of R&B extends from Memphis in 1966 to Philadelphia in 1973 and nothing later -- telegraphs how this is the work of a band, not a singer/songwriter. Sure, Yours, Dreamily is littered with production tricks -- slight, trippy phasing on rhythm and vocals, guitars filtered to resemble either transistor radios or saturated fuzz -- but everything comes back to the group's elastic, blissed-out groove, a feel that can suggest either love or heartache depending upon the angle from which it's viewed. While the songs are good -- there's canny craftsmanship behind the Stylistics salute "Stay in My Corner" and the steady crawling "Put a Flower in Your Pocket" -- it's this immersive, trippy atmosphere that distinguishes the Arcs and makes Yours, Dreamily live up to its name.

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BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Mark Deming

Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys is clearly a man who likes to keep busy, handling plenty of production assignments and backing like-minded artists during his downtime from the band, and in 2015, after the Black Keys took some time off after drummer Patrick Carney suffered a shoulder injury, Auerbach decided to make productive use of the hiatus by launching a new side project. The Arcs were formed by Auerbach and Leon Michaels, a multi-instrumentalist who was part of the studio crew on Auerbach's production projects for Dr. John and Lana Del Ray. Telling the press "I just wanted to do my thing and get extra weird," Auerbach headed into the studio with Michaels and a handful of friends and colleagues, including Nick Movshon, Homer Steinweiss, Richard Swift, and Kenny Vaughan. The Arcs made their debut with a 7" vinyl single released to independent music stores to commemorate the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao title fight in May 2015. A-side "Stay in My Corner" and the flip "Tomato Can" were songs inspired by Auerbach's passion for boxing, and "Stay in My Corner" also appeared on the Arcs' debut album, Yours, Dreamily, which was recorded in a handful of freewheeling sessions lasting less than two weeks. Yours, Dreamily appeared on Nonesuch Records in September 2015.

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