Thursday, February 27, 2014

finding the right path on ages and ages' 'divisionary'

Ages and Ages' Tim Perry and Rob Oberdorfer. Photo by Alicia J. Rose.
"We all have our own vision of what the right path is and which key fits," says Tim Perry sitting in the living room of his NE Portland house.

He's just grabbed a copy of his new record, Divisionary, from the vinyl-filled shelf adjacent to his front door. Flipping it over, he shows me the pile of keys.

"In my mind, it's kind of overwhelming—if you're looking for the right one you might have to search for a while," the Ages and Ages' band leader and songwriter explains. "That said, there's also a lot of different locks in the world and locks represent different doors that open different paths to go down."

This new record is Ages and Ages' second but it's not just simply the next Ages' album—it's a meditated step forward in the band's story. It furthers their individual narrative and experiences as well as the ideologies that Ages' want to share with the world. It also represents the challenges that the group faced to create this record.


Musically, Divisionary once again balances Ages' ability to instill a joyful folk sound amongst underlying complexity. Dividing the sonic space between upbeat singalongs and seriousness, the lyrical half represents the latter. Acknowledging his pop sensibilities, Perry says he writes the songs he does "because they get stuck in my head," but an intimately meaningful message is an integral part of the process.

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Read the rest on Vortex Music Magazine.