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The success of The Eastern Gate’s CD Seraphim—leaping to the top 200 best-sellers on Amazon.com within hours of release—could be dismissed as a social networking fluke. But there’s a surprise here. The music is actually quite enjoyable.
The Eastern Gate consists of Josh Peterson, Noah Kerr, Alex Linebrink, Ethan Lewis and Meredith Bogacz. The five met at Hillsdale College in Michigan, where they played local venues, cementing a mellow rock sound backed with sweeping strings. With graduation destined to split the group up, they recorded Seraphim. And sold it. A lot.
Seraphim doesn’t sound like the amateur production of college students. The music has a clear, distinctive sound reminiscent of cello rock groups like Darling Violetta. Three tracks—“Still Sailing On,” “News,” and “Rock and Roll Nun”—carry more of an 80’s rock sound, and in my opinion are the weakest tracks. But I’m a sucker for strings, so your mileage may vary.
The Eastern Gate is at their best with the soaring, string-textured sound of “Whirlwind” and “In the Way.” One can hope that the success of this CD might bring the group back together for an encore performance. I for one would love to see where they could go from here. - Talkin' 'Bout Music
The Eastern Gate – Seraphim
2008, The Eastern Gate
Hillsdale, Michigan’s The Eastern Gate is a quintet of college friends who played together throughout their college experience; cutting and releasing an album in January, 2009, Seraphim, as their “final act� together. As fate would have it, the band shot into the Top-200 downloads on Amazon.com within hours and hit #1 on Amazon’s Movers and Shakers chart. Now the band is adding dates in and around their home base, and I would imagine reconsidering whether they really want to give up on The Eastern Gate just yet.
If you enjoy bands like The Tragically Hip, The Psychodots (Bears) or Our Lady Peace then you will find a lot to like here. The album opens with Whirlwind, in the style of Our Lady Peace. It’s a solid rocker with fair commercial presence. Still Sailing On is a key track, it’s a very active, driven tune, although the mix isn’t ideal. Come Along is more orchestral in composition/arrangement. It is a soft and sentimental track that displays some of the expanded range of the band. News is and upbeat blues rocker built around some tremendous violin fills and a great hook. Suspend Me and Rock N Roll Nun are my two favorite tracks on the album. Suspend Me sounds pretty much like The Tragically Hip with a violin player, whereas Rock N Roll Nun is very much in the mid-western style of The Psychodots (The Bears without Adrian Belew).
The Eastern Gate might just be kissed by fate. Their sound isn’t necessarily one that will be embraced by all listeners, but it might have enough appeal to take them a long, long way. Their eclectic, big rock sound with Celtic and Blues elements is unique and interesting and fresh in the music marketplace. Seraphim is very much worth checking out.
Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)
You can learn more about The Eastern Gate at http://www.theeasterngate.net/ or www.myspace.com/theeasterngatemusic. Currently, Seraphim is most accessible in digital formats from outlets such as iTunes, Amazon.com, or Napster. Hard copies are currently available at shows and will soon be available through http://www.amiestreet.com/. - Wildy's World
Discography
"Seraphim" full length album released Jan 4, 2009
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Bio
After working together in a variety of previous settings as fellow students and musicians at Hillsdale College, Josh Peterson, Noah Kerr and Ethan Lewis decided to put together a cohesive group in Fall 2007, recruiting local media-networking guru and bassist Alex Linebrink. Soon after, classical violinist, Celtic fiddler and all-around trouble-making artist Meredith Bogacz joined the lineup and things moved along. The group (then known as Seraphim) played in an eclectic mixture of venues, finding willing ears in local acoustic coffeehouses, as well as campus events and friend's homes.
During their senior year at college, they cut a ten-track album of original material for the sake of friendship, learning, and sharing. Renamed The Eastern Gate, the group's album is entitled 'Seraphim.'
One of the incredible things about memories recent research has found is that they're not simply stored, but instead, are recreated every time we attempt to access them. The sights, the sounds, the exhilaration of a live show, and the sense of satisfaction when it was all said and done: The Eastern Gate is about that memory. What was once the group known as Seraphim returns to you in the form of The Eastern Gate, a tribute to a good memory.
Love, anger, hope and loss - we took these emotions and attempted to create something wonderous before your eyes.
In return, you gave us back something beautiful.
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