NoRey

As much as Seattle Weekly would love to take credit for its success (frontman Alejandro Garcia was our accommodating cover man a few years back), this multinational group, comprising members originally from Columbia, England, and Detroit, has a sound that speaks for itself. Think Rusted Root with a Latin flair. The five-piece releases its new LP, Untie Your Arms, tonight. With the Country Lips, the Swearengens, Aaron McDonnell & The Gospel Plow. Sunset Tavern. 10:30 p.m. $8. - Gwendolyn Elliot - Seattle Weekly

Sometimes you just know that you’re listening to a proper band. No offence to anyone of a defensive disposition, but some groups are together because they want to be. No Rey, whom I have been tracking for a while, emanate togetherness. Their latest release is called Untie Your Arms and it suggests that the bonds are closer than ever.

The unity that sounds so natural on this album is surprising when you consider that the personnel who make up Seattle-based No Rey constitute an unlikely international brigade. There is no doubt that the mix makes for an inviting and curiously idiosyncratic mesh of voices, musical origins and disparate experiences. The result is undeniably American music, but it is informed by an infusion of accents from beyond its borders and pages from history that happened elsewhere. Singer Vicky Bowes observes, “We all have different tastes in music, we are all really different, but we all like the same music as well!”

The album opens with Carpenter and very quickly establishes that their song-writing ethic observes tradition and convention proudly and perhaps even a little defiantly. Sure, it wears an Americana bandana prominently, but it is tied to an itinerant traveller’s leather holdall. You know the kind; all wear and tear, and full of memory and regret. It is the first of several tunes on Untie Your Arms which are built around solidly reliable structures that have served the popular song very well.

It’s followed quickly by two very strong numbers in the title track Untie Your Arms and the infectious How’s It All. Both develop the twin themes of unpretentious rock n roots beats and empathetic words and music. So far, so familiar. But these tracks have the secret, indiscernible ingredient that makes people sing along from the very first time of hearing the very first chorus. Alejandro Garcia sings in English but there is no mistaking that he voices sentiments with Latin-American sensibilities. Spanish is the loving tongue but his delivery is also masculine, assertive and intuitively devoid of unnecessary machismo. His deep tonality finds a perfect foil in Vicky Bowe’s sweet backing vocals, which are especially effective here and on the call and response of Across the Country.

If the songs are coherent and direct then the arrangements sort them into rhythmically varied character sketches and cross-matched images drawn by drummer Mike Swallow and bassist brother Dave. On the anxiety attack of Rumors, the jogging ska-tology of You Keep Running and the off-beat heat-haze of Red Spotted Skies they drive the tunes along overlooked dirt tracks and b-roads like only the locals do.

I really liked the way that Nick Nanry’s guitar dropped in an out of the proceedings like your scruffy best mate who puts his feet on the furniture. There is the dirt of grunge, a spillage of flange and a lot of echoing through the canyon. Now, a big compliment is coming – so get ready. It all put me a little in mind of the late and much lamented Rainer Ptacek and those fantastic Das Combo tracks from The Texas Tapes. Just a suggestion of that intensity, mind you, but enough to set you thinking.

However, the song to listen out for is Ease Your Mind because it is more than just a nice ballad and a pause for thought. It is an audible step back to look at the canvas before approaching the work in with renewed confidence, self-assurance and maturity.

Listening back to earlier material it becomes self-evident that Untie Your Arms represents significant forward progression towards a highly individual identity for No Rey. Bassist Dave Swallow expresses the general mood of accomplishment and the sense of a job well done, “I’m pretty proud of the music. I feel like we’re finding an original style, that makes me proud, I want other people to like that as much as I do”.

Untie Your Arms is a tidy studio album that places alluring songs in a variety of neat settings. Some are subtle and some are more direct, but all of them are crafted to sound as immediate and intimate as the studio will allow. It’s a recording that sounds good in the car and persuasive enough to make you put another coin in the jukebox. - Instrumentali Musicali

A. P. Martin
Posted July 3, 2012 at 12:22 PM

Fantastic time. Saw a lot of good bands, and a handful of great bands. Love was in the air, Here, in my opinion, these were the four shows nobody should have missed:..........

2) NoRey – This band will be one of the greatest bands ever if the love they put into their music is reciprocated. I never heard of NoRey before this event, but now I will make certain others hear about them.


- A. P. Martin

NoRey, NoRey (5/11, self-released, noreymusic.com): This five-track release will make you want to quit pruning your pubes, live in a yurt, do mind-expanding drugs, and take group showers. It's natural, it's groovy, it's sexy; fronted by Colombian cocksman Alejandro Garcia, No Rey might be Seattle's most authentic, original band. - Mike Seely, Editor for The Seattle Weekly

"during the absolutely stunning performance at the can can, i was struck upside the head by the excellent combination of haunting melodies with dirty grooves." - Micah Thomas

It turns out NoRey are a surf/rock/reggae band who have just released a new album ‘One Of These Days’ its produced by Bubba Jones (Brand New Heavies, Digable Planets) and it works ! - Surf Twisted

An international ensemble culled from more continents than a hand has fingers, No Rey plays deeply lyrical, rangy music which defies easy—or even hard—classification. Its lead singer, the Colombian expat Alejandro Garcia, is a Javier Bardem soundalike who melts panties in three words or less, and was kind enough to play the fictitious role of bloodthirsty, coke-snorting chef Lou Kohl on a Seattle Weekly cover last year. If NoRey existed in Malibu in the '70s, they'd have been the house band at Margot Kidder's pad, covering “Pusherman” every time Jack Nicholson or James Taylor showed up with a few grams, and passing out on shag carpets and chaise lounges at the end of the night (or morning). - Seattle Weekly

One of These Days is an Alice in Wonderland sort of album, crafted in a series of hypnotic, rhythmic, and intoxicating melodies. The album starts with a lulling beat, a dreamlike melody, almost as if the song depicts a person lost in a trance. The feel of the music gives off an air of a soft lullaby, hushing us into a sense of calm as the first song fades off into the distance.

The eerie song fades off into the distance. Suddenly the mood changes and the music comes to life with the sound of a rhythmic beat, a crash of symbols and guitar flood the sound waves. The abrupt change is a wake up call to reality. It's almost as if the later melody is mocking the former.

But just as we begin to feel comfort in this idea of reality, the record again changes it's tune. Suddenly Alejandro's voice is distant. The record winds in and out of musical labyrinths, just as it seems to settle in one direction, it takes another turn. The music takes many styles, ranging from reggae to rock, to pop, to indie to blues...each song distinctly different, each song tying together with Alejandro's very distinct voice.

Essentially, this album is a rabbit hole of both practical and nonsensical emotional reactions; but making interesting observations about love, lust and humanity. It grapples with the curiosities, befuddlement's and insecurities that our conscious and subconscious minds constantly ponder or, as No Rey puts it, "wonder."

author: Rachael Perrell
published: January 17th, 2010 - Rachael Perrell w/ THE LEAVEE BREAKING.