CASEY NEIL AND THE NORWAY RATS "Sending Up Flares" (Fluff and Gravy)
Add Date: 9/26/2023
Release Date: 9/29/2023
FCC: Clean
Focus Tracks: Meteor Shower, Jumpin Out of My Skin (feat. Corrin Tucker), Sending Up Flares
Formats: NACC Top 200, Submodern, Non-Comm AAA
RIYL: Eels, mid-late period R.E.M.
Previous Features:
NPR Live Sessions | Paste Magazine | Rolling Stone | No Depression
The music of Casey Neill & The Norway Rats combines high energy rock rave-ups and haunting lush acoustic reveries built around melodic narrative songwriting. The Norway Rats are a collective of Portland indie all star players whose credits include The Decemberists, Eels, Viva Voce and more. Neill has been touring with the band and solo throughout the USA, Japan, and Europe for more than a decade, performing his songs at venues such as Town Hall in New York, San Francisco's Great American Music Hall, and the Newport Folk Festival. The new Norway Rats record is a major leap forward for the band that No Depression calls "a milestone in Neill and company’s trajectory thus far" while Rolling Stone says " (Neill's) songs mask their complexities beneath a simple, singalong-worthy surface... these swimming waters have serious depth."
The record was produced and co-written by guitarist Chet Lyster (The Eels), and features longtime band member Jenny Conlee on keys (The Decemberists). Sending Up Flares also features guests Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows, Minus 5, R.E.M.) and Peter Buck (R.E.M.) on the track "The Stars Unseen," and Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker adds powerhouse vocals on "Jumping Out of My Skin." In addition to his work as a touring songwriter and bandleader, Casey Neill is an active member of The Minus 5.
The previous Norway Rats record, Subterrene, received notable press, including an NPR live session, a Paste Magazine taping, a Rolling Stone video debut, and a rave review from No Depression. Sending Up Flares continues where Subterrene left off, and ups the ante, finding Casey Neill & The Norway Rats at their best. Able and ready to tour, the band is excited to pull this record off on the road and support it heavily.
ABOUT CASEY NEILL:
- Performed at Newport Folk Festival, also in band for Main Stage Speak Out! set w/ Billy Bragg, Lucius, Nate Rateliff, Margot Price, Jim James, Sharon Van Etten
- 2020 first round band announcements for SXSW
- Solo tour with Alejandro Escovedo in Canada and US
- Consistent touring up and down west coast and Northeast. Southwest and Midwest every couple of years. Roughly 80 shows a year
- Band member/side player in The Minus 5