Saint Solitude

Cardinal Heart’s Crosson finds balancing act
by Mary Snow, take5 correspondent
published February 8, 2008 12:15 am

Dup Crosson, a solo artist who performs as Saint Solitude, has made a successful leap from his solo album, “Disaster Stories,” to uniting his talents with the newly formed independent rock band The Cardinal Heart.

Crosson, who sings and plays guitar, is joined by Brian Daignault (drums, vocals) and Charlie Pyron (bass, vocals). The trio blends romantic and atmospheric melodies with pop rock sensibilities.

Crosson spoke with take5 about balancing both his solo music with The Cardinal Heart.

Question: How was The Cardinal Heart formed?

Answer: It’s been a long time coming. The three of us got together in January of last year, and we all kind of switched instruments and saw what happened. The three of us just starting writing and knew that we were going to be a trio band and have been playing ever since. Brian Daignault (drums, vocals) started out playing the guitar, and I started with drums, and then we switched. There was a lot of adjustment time for Brian to get use to being a drummer and
me to get use to being a frontman. We are all on different instruments, which makes it interesting.

Q: Who are some of the band’s influences?

A: I listen to a lot of British stuff, anything mid-90s Brit pop and The Smashing Pumpkins. Charlie Pyron (bass, vocals) listens to a lot of Spiritualized, and Brian is into Grateful Dead, jazz and Radiohead. Brian’s influences bring a different element to the band. Charlie and I would be very rock-oriented if it wasn’t for him.

Q: What is your songwriting process?

A: We write the best stuff when we are all together. I still write all the lyrics, but the way we have been approaching songs is if it doesn’t come out of a jam, then it’s an effort between the three of us. We are keeping are minds open to different ways to write songs.

Q: How is your solo album Saint Solitude, “Disaster Stories,” different from The Cardinal Heart’s material?

A: My solo thing is out and finished, and I did that on my own. I try not to mix my solo stuff with the band. It’s unfair to the audience, and I think it’s healthy to separate the two. For the time being, I’m treating it as two separate entities as much as possible.

Q: Describe the chemistry between the band members.

A: Charlie is definitely the quiet one; we have to drag out his opinions from him. Bryan is the charismatic and talkative one. We are all becoming very close friends and I think that’s making it a lot easier to be musicians together.

Q: What do you hope that people take away from your music?

A: I think Asheville is an interesting place to be in a rock band. We are very much trying to prove that indie rock can have a lot of ground in Asheville and be as big as anything else. The trio thing is trying to achieve the sound of lots of people with only three people. We are hoping to make a living from this. That’s a definite goal. We have our hearts in this.

- Take Five (Asheville Citizen-Times)

If you’re anything like me and need a break from the summer heat and festivities, then follow these instructions:

Pull down the blinds, shut out the world and let Saint Solitude’s beautifully bleak music cool you down. Not that his music doesn’t sound just as good with the blinds up or with other people around, but personally I think Saint Solitude should be experienced in, well, solitude.

The man behind the alias is Dup Crosson, and he won’t be hiding indoors this summer but will be out promoting his well crafted EP, “Disaster Stories”. And here’s a fun fact (for me anyway): most of the songs on the EP were written during Crosson’s stay in Sweden where he studied for two years. He’s now back in North Carolina though, and besides his solo-venture as Saint Solitude he also sings in the band The Cardinal Heart, which showcases a slightly less softer sound but just as good.

“Disaster Stories” is available to purchase via ITunes, CDBaby, Dup’s MySpace or at any of his upcoming shows.

link: http://rocksellout.com/2008/06/11/saint-solitude/

- Rock Sellout

Sound Track

"Saint Solitude: Between a rock and a pop place"
by Lydia See

There is a delicate balance between solid rock and roll and pop music, and to find a comfortable halfway point, without sacrificing quality for accessibility, is a music industry feat. Dup Crosson, aka Saint Solitude, has done just that, carving his niche with well-crafted, high quality indie-pop songs while still preserving his rock ideals.

A talented multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Crosson writes and performs songs with varied layers looped live, deftly switching between keys and guitar. He uses his guitar as a percussive instrument at times, and then utilizes an electronic bow (e-bow) to make droning, harmonizing string sounds with a bit of reverb. The use of keys in Crosson's songs is sometimes an addition of depth; other times it's primary melody for the song.

At a recent Rocket Club performance, Crosson shared the show with three other dynamically different bands: Darien (a 15-year old singer-song-writer virtuoso), BaManBia (playing their last show as Asheville's only Afro-Asian influenced group), and Lewis (a stellar rock band that did a spectacular cover of Jeff Buckley's "Last Goodbye"). The crowd was very receptive to the varied spectrum of musical styles — fans of one band rocked out to the groups.

This show marked Crosson's first live performance with a full band, before going on tour for three months solo, and he split his set between solo and accompanied material. The set opener, "Soft Contact," a slight step away from his usual shoegazey style, represented more of a upbeat-rock '60s sound. The next song, "And After," (ordinarily low-fi) had a fuller, more explosive feel with the addition of Donnie Pratt on bass and Ian Cunningham on drums.

During the solo portion of the show, Darien contributed backing vocals for the extremely catchy "Let's Try It" (which she also sings on the version for Crosson's forthcoming record, Journal of Retreat). With its catchy sing-along chorus, "So if you think we'll get away with it / all we've got to do is pray for it," it's hard to get it out of your head.

A highlight of the set was "So Much for the Secret," with its droning e-bowed guitar, break-beat percussion line created by key and guitar loops, and haunting low-toned guitar over everything. A increasingly energetic and streamlined finish represents Crosson's ability to manufacture mature pop songs right at the edge of milking their catchiness, while retaining maturity in his lyrics: "The right pocket to discover and recover islands from the blue / in a cottage in the country, you learn something from your solitude / but I hate it when I need it, so I keep a secret / and I could never claim pure providence, this confidence."

Saint Solitude's recently completed record, Retreat, was crafted almost exclusively by Crosson this past January through April (with some production assistance from Andrew Schatzberg of Landslide Studios and a few musical guests). Journal is an accurate representation of Saint Solitude live: Quality, intimacy and well-arranged hooks abound. Saint Solitude will be on a solo tour across the U.S. until early October, after which a return to Asheville and an official record release by Alive and Well Records is in the works.

For more information, visit http://www.saintsolitude.com.

[Lydia See is a freelance music writer and photographer. Contact her through ]http://lydiasee.wordpress.com.] - Mountain Xpress (lydia.see)

Saint Solitude is one Dup Crosson from Asheville, NC and as far as I can tell this is his debut EP. Heroes Turned To Whores, the lead track, starts off at barely a whisper, before trickling gently into life. Vocally it’s somewhere between a sneer and despairing sigh, and this echoes the way the music builds and threatens to burst into life, before dropping back down to its gentle pace again. Saints & Soldiers repeats the swelling and dropping trick, but a different kind of way. Dup sounds adrift at sea, and he’s not sure whether it’s a good thing or not. The melody is spectral, drifting and sometimes grandiose. Join The Light is more spindly and straight forward while The Laugh Track is sung over magical music box backing, and is a really beautiful song, that transports you to some enchanted forest where the hero plays a piano in the clearing. Coming to the final track, On A City, he sounds much more relaxed, and plays out a sweet laid back melody.

The Disaster Stories EP is self released and out now.

http://russellsmusicreviews.blogspot.com:80/2008/11/saint-solitude-disaster-stories-ep.html - Russell's Reviews

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A389627

Tonight's packed bill sets its poles early: The 7:30 p.m. show pairs one-man Asheville band Saint Solitude with Raleigh trio The White Cascade. From the former, expect sharply regimented keyboards, drum machines and guitars serving as a bed for buoyant pop lines about amorous isolation and disappointment. - Independent Weekly

http://jbreitling.blogspot.com/2009/04/todays-hotness-line-drawings-saint.html

We're inclined to be skeptical of one-man bands, who nowadays often ply their trade with loop machine and/or laptop, because the live spectacle can lack the sort of passion that really drives our fandom. There are exceptions, of course, as we think you'll agree -- if you've seen him -- that Dosh can work some hypnotic business on stage (granted, he performed with a colleague when we saw him). All that said, it really comes down to songwriting, and so we were favorably impressed with Asheville, N.C.-based and Maine-bred solo effort Saint Solitude. The band is a fellow named Dup Crosson, and Mr. Crosson writes very catchy indie pop numbers that -- at least as recorded -- bear none of the undesirable hallmarks of the solitary musician. The piano-anchored toe-tapper "Tosabesatoch" touts a light touch and an arresting melody. The rocker "Soft Contact" sounds like something Ben Gibbard might sing if he were in good mood and was backed by a sunshiney outfit; the guitar-and-voice ballad "Stay In Touch" is obvious enough sentiment-wise but is eminently listenable. "Tosabesatoch" is on the split EP He Is Contrary To Him out this month and available at shows, and Crosson is already at work on a full-length he hopes will be ready for public consumption come summer. Saint Solitude embarks on a three-week tour of the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S. Thursday, and the act touches down at P.A.'s Lounge in Somerville, Mass. April 25, with Midriff Records' Scuba supporting. Full tour dates are at the Saint Solitude MySpace casa right here - Clicky Clicky music blog

www.subinev.com

Dup Crosson lives in Asheville, North Carolina, where he records and performs under the moniker of Saint Solitude. My first encounter with Crosson was some time last year, when he was here in Portland (where he’s from originally) playing a show with Lady Lamb The Beekeeper. It seems that every few months he manages to make the trek up the coast to play shows and reunite with friends in the northeast. This time around, there’s a bit more fanfare around the trip, as he’s just released a video for the song “Flocking Disaster” (watch it below) in which he encounters a TARDIS! Clearly he’s just preparing it for the tour.

Also of recent news for Saint Solitude is a split EP entitled He Is Contrary to Him, with another one-man-band, Charles Martel, due out this month. The album will feature 3 tracks from each artist, as well as one collaborative piece.

Formerly the leader of Asheville-based trio The Cardinal Heart, Dup has kept some of those songs as he’s developed a robust sound based on live guitar and keyboard loops that can be reminiscent of Radiohead at times. He just completed work on the debut Saint Solitude full length, due out later this year.

NYC take note - he’ll be at Pianos next Friday, April 24th.

Video and tour dates (which start today in Johnson City, TN) after the jump!
- Subinev

Asheville, NC-based musician Dup Crosson - whose one-man-band project is known as Saint Solitude - will soon stop in Chicago for an August 11 show at Darkroom (also featuring TV Set, Pree, Miss Autopsy and Leaves). The gig is part of a U.S. tour to promote the newly-released debut Saint Solitude record, Journal of Retreat.

Although Crosson flies solo, the record proves that he's no dime-a-dozen singer-songwriter. With inspiration from the likes of R.E.M, Echo & the Bunnymen, Oasis and Suede, Crosson delivers a full, alluring pop sound that showcases his skills as a multi-instrumentialist and loop artist. For a taste, check out one of the album's cuts, "Let's Try It":

Download: Saint Solitude - Let's Try It

In anticipation of the Darkroom show, Crosson answered some questions on Saint Solitude and what people can expect from the show:

First off, tell us how Saint Solitude began and how the project has developed so far.

Saint Solitude began officially in 2006 as the moniker for my solo material. I took a break from songwriting for a few years in college and when I came back to it, I realized I hadn't lost the desire to write- in fact it came back stronger than ever. I decided from there on out I always wanted to have my own project going on alongside anything else I might be doing - something I could always come back to. Bands tend to break up a lot...this was my way of always having something to work on.

You’ve just released your debut record, Journal of Retreat. What was the recording like and what can people unfamiliar with your music expect to hear?

Most of the record was recorded in the living room of my old house, except for one track, "Flocking Disaster," which was done at Landslide Studio, where the album was mixed. I've always loved home recording because of the flexibility - recording vocals late at night, making up weird percussion tricks in my kitchen- you have to pay for that time in a studio! There's definitely some limitations doing it this way, and it makes you learn the technical side of things more, but it's quite comfortable otherwise.

I'm playing to more new ears on this current tour, so I get any number of responses depending on what they've heard - the record or the live show - because the two are pretty different right now. The record is full band style and arranged for a four or five piece band. The live show is a one-man affair with a loop station that builds layers upon layers. Same songs, though. For the people who haven't seen the looping before, it can be pretty exciting. I'll have a band when I tour again next year to try and bridge the two entities into a more cohesive sound.

Even though you’re a one-man band, your music tends to have a fuller group vibe rather than a typical singer-songwriter sound. Did you set out to make it this way? How do you make it work live?

I knew it was always going to be my project, but I didn't ever think I'd be touring as a one-man band. It just made more sense. I can tour in a sedan that gets 44 miles to the gallon. That's pretty invaluable for trying to get your name out there. Makes it a lot easier.

I've always been turned off by the typical singer-songwriters who aren't doing something new - either in their records or their live shows or the way they arrange their songs. Beck is good at keeping things fresh. Neko Case excels at it. My live show has been my attempt to do something new for me and the audience - I experiment a lot, but the core of the show is the old fashioned three-minute pop song. That comes through, I think. People still remember the hooks, hopefully.

What’s one band or musician you feel clearly comes through as an influence in your music? What about one that people would probably be surprised to learn is an inspiration?

People hear Radiohead a lot, which I don't really understand - but I do listen to them a lot, so it makes sense. They're pretty seminal to where I steer myself melodically. The Smashing Pumpkins have always been my favorite - Billy Corgan, enigma that he is, will always remain my favorite songwriter. I think that throws some people off because I don't always go for the big, heavy riffs that they're known for. I always appreciated their range of songwriting more than anything - the ability to place a soaring nine-minute rock opus next to a delicate, acoustic song.

Your current tour will bring you to Chicago for a gig at Darkroom on August 11. Have you played here before? What are you most looking forward to from your stop in the city?

I've never even been to Chicago before! Even being such a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan. So I'm excited to swim in the lake and see the Metro and what not. I'll have a map of geeky things to do, I'm sure. Hopefully see a show on my night off. I've been told I have to eat at Hot Doug's.

Why should people be sure to check out the show? What can they expect?

It's not a typical one-man show. It's loud, it's spacey. Plus there's like 5 bands on the bill so there will be plenty of music for your buck. One of my favorite bands from D.C. is playing, too - Pree. Their singer May has a very unique voice.

Your best experience playing live so far? What about the worst or craziest?

Hmm. That's a tough one. Audience participation always gets me going. It's fun to play off that. I just played these songs with a band a week ago for the tour kickoff - that was really fun, too. A taste of what's to come.

The way my show's setup, the worst thing can be equipment failure because I have so much. I've got to roll with the punches sometimes.

How can people find out more?

www.saintsolitude.com - I update my blog there. Also on myspace.com/saintsolitude. There are video clips at both, and the record will be available through CDBaby and aliveandwellrecords.com within a week or two.

- Windy City Rock/The Examiner

Saint Solitude is one Dup Crosson from North Carolina, a guitar, a keyboard, and some pedals. Keep in mind that none of his loops are pre-recorded. He performs, records, and loops them as the song evolves. While most musicians who use that technique have trouble keeping the result from running away from them, Dup’s layering builds cohesive and thought-out songs that never veer too far into experiment-ville. Dig it.

Song List:

Give It A Name
Soft Contact
Let’s Try It
Flocking Disaster
The Afterlife is a Slideshow
Domino Destroy

http://www.bandinbostonpodcast.com/saintsolitude

- Band in Boston