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From The Desk Of The Posies: Dynamo Royale

Solid States is the Posies’ first new collection since 2010’s Blood/Candy, and the circumstances surrounding its conception couldn’t have been more different than those of its predecessor. First and foremost were the double-gut-punch deaths of two longtime band members: drummer Darius Minwalla in 2015, and bassist Joe Skyward earlier this year. There was also a divorce and a remarriage for Jon Auer, who, like Ken Stringfellow, now lives in France. Life-changing events aside, the Posies are back with yet another great album. Stringfellow and Auer will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week.

DynamoRoyale

Auer: Dynamo Royale started as a casual idea to record a single song with Tiz Aramini, who’d I’d known very well since the mid-’90s. Back in the day, I remember her giving me a cassette tape of her music and being a little scared of the possibility that I wouldn’t like it. However, the complete opposite occurred. Turned out that Tiz had spent several years studying piano at a conservatory in France, and then she discovered other music like the Pixies and Juliana Hatfield and kind of gave the middle finger to her classical past and started writing her own songs. The byproduct of her training was that her compositions were and are often filled with unique chord progressions and unexpected melodies, and I was super impressed, as they have their own stamp and flavor. I produced her first solo record in 1999 in London for the most part (with Darius Minwalla on drums as well), and in 2004, she did her second solo record with session/touring ace Jeremy Stacey at the helm. Cut to a few years ago, around 2011, and the idea for Tiz and I to do one song together turned in to eight songs in just a couple of weeks and then eventually our full-length record Straight On The Diagonal. It kind of just happened and was totally unexpected, and then we fell in love as part of the deal as well. We try to downplay the part about us being couple and married, but there’s no way around it … we are! That said, we want the work to speak for itself, and I really think there are songs on our record that don’t really sound quite like anything else like anything else. It’s a true collaboration with us, usually starting with her full arrangement and chords for a song and me finishing the vocal lines we share and trade and most of the lyrics. She’s the reason I made that Transatlantic move five years ago, and I’m super glad that I did. Follow your heart indeed.