11 REVIEW IN AND ALL HOT!!!!!!!! HIGHLIGHTS "ASTONISHING!" "Peggy Lee and Julie McGeer not only display great synergy but they pretty well create a whole new sonic language " - The Baffled Octopus's 2014 sits at #13 in top 25 best Canadian Albums of the year. -Mark Anthony Brennan "There is theatricality in the entire composition that is Beast to Bones, the first album from The Sands. The album is a performance, but it is not a soundtrack. At least not until there is a production for it. It has tension, character development, surprise, and satisfaction, presented with an insistent yet delicate touch...Let's just call it a complete musical experience worthy of many listens and an encore." -Leanne V Nash, BC Music Magazine "The Sands brings a new caress of folk and jazz, vivid and fresh." Brad Simm, Beatroute 'The Sands, Beast to Bone (Independent). Vancouver singer Julie McGeer and cellist/pianist-about-town Peggy Lee have created a charmingly idiosyncratic little keeper in their first joint foray as The Sands. Beast to Bone, produced with the help of West Coast violin iconoclast Jesse Zubot — who helmed Tanya Tagaq’s Polaris Music Prize-winning Animism last year — flutters between indie folk, jazz and experimentalism in beguiling fashion, its breathy vocals and lilting, gossamer melodies belying an undercurrent of toughness that occasionally manifests itself in knotty guitar tones and lyrical darkness. It’s quite a unique piece of work, casting a spell that only mildly subsides when a nice, Not as arty as it first seems, trust me. And “Hold On” is pure, sighing, brassy pop pleasure.' Ben Rayner, The Toronto Star 'The album has elegance accentuated by the contributions of a crack up team of musicians' ' eloquently poetic and demure.' -Gregory Adams, Georgia Straight 'Earnest with little fat, mature' 'One listens with childish glee and an appreciation of a novel.' 'Little to no cliche with scenes both vast and incredibly intimate.' -Jack Derricourt of Grey Owl Point 'Inventive and bursting with colours' 'An album that is free to breath' ' a rich, varied instrumentation which always sounds "natural" and dynamic - invites listeners to turn the volume knob to the right.' 'producer Jesse Zubot musically creates quite convincing scenarios enhanced by ingenious spatial placements, rich with instrumental timbers.' -Beppe Colli, Clouds and Clocks CD OF THE WEEK After numerous plays, The Sands’ Beast To Bone is still revealing itself. It is at once lush yet sparse; cool yet warm; folk yet jazz. The creation mainly of singer Julie McGeer and cellist/pianist Peggy Lee, The Sands is a tapestry of sound used subtly. That is, although there is a conventional rhythm section, it is not obtrusive; the horn arrangements suggest jazz but they are more seductive than obvious. Lee, who has played as session musician seemingly every kind of music including free jazz, similarly is more accomplice to McGeer’s restrained but stately vocals than the narcissist she could be. Tom Harrison, The Vancouver Province '4 out of 5 stars' 'Astonishing' ' Refreshingly original, abandoning tradition' An amalgam of folk, jazz and indie rock.' great synergy between the Peggy Lee and Julie McGeer in songwriting, creating a whole new sonic sound' 'Individualistic vulnerable vocals with Lee's emotive piano playing' -Mark Anthony Brennan, Ride the Tempo/ B.C Music Magazine Album of the Week McGeer sings in her delicate bittersweet voice, JP Carter oozing reverberant trumpet' ' fantastic musical foundation' -Francois Marchand, Vancouver Sun 'Original and adventurous' 'A list musicians' ' A tasteful production, a musical adventure that brings Feist to mind.' -Kerry Doole, New Canadian Music Magazine ----------------------------------------------------- An eloquent and informative interview Peggy Lee had with Beppe Colli of Clouds and Clocks in how the seeds of The Sands, Beast to Bone were found and germinated. Our story. http://www.cloudsandclocks.net/interviews/PLee_interview14.html ------------------------------------------------------- THE SANDS BIO The album is a fiercely original and intimate experience that combines jazz, indie pop and folk roots to find a sum that is greater than its parts. Seductive grooves resonate with soul and intermingle as lush horn arrangements form a complex idiosyncratic counterpoint, casting dark shadows and vibrant light sometimes simultaneously. The Sands is a rare confluence of Western Canada's foremost players from the jazz and indie scene including JP Carter (Inhabitants, Destroyer, Dan Mangan), Paul Rigby (Neko Case, AC Newman), Cole Schmidt (Pugs and Crows), Darren Parris (Frazey Ford) and Barry Mirochnik ( Neko Case, Veda Hille). Beast to Bone features the dynamic songwriting team Peggy Lee and Julie McGeer and is produced by the ever-innovative, Polaris prize winner Jesse Zubot (Tanya Tagaq) , a known catalyst for powerful musical experimentation across Canada. Collectively, the ensemble comprises over a hundred years of musical experience -- a vintage imbedded in the music. With popular influences as diverse as Feist, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Tom Waits, Lou Reed, and Nick Cave, the music of The Sands is a reflective, vulnerable, dramatic and sometimes explosive journey. We hope you enjoy it. Julie McGeer A wildly creative and unique part of the Vancouver music scene, Julie McGeer is a singer, songwriter, storyteller, and poet. Julie’s background in theatre and dance informs the sense of play in her work through many collaborations with jazz players like guitarist Tony Wilson, composer and piano player player Lisa Cay Miller, and bassist James Meger. From jazz standards to folk based originals to voice/movement improvisation, Julie works with several groups and coordinates a vocal movement improvisation group called The Stir-Ups. Peggy Lee Vancouver based cellist, composer, Peggy Lee has ongoing collaborations with Tony Wilson, Veda Hille, Robin Holcomb, Wayne Horvitz and Mary Margaret O'hara. As a composer, she is known mostly for her instrumental work with the Peggy Lee Band and Film in Music, two 8 piece ensembles that she leads. A juno nominee for the Peggy Lee Band's Invitation, Lee has been a recipient of the Freddie Stone Award, a Jessie Richardson Theatre award for outstanding composition and the 2013 Vancouver Mayor's Arts Award for Music. Julie McGeer *lead vocals, Peggy Lee *piano and cello, JP Carter *trumpet and effects, Paul Rigby *guitar, Cole Schmidt *guitar, Darren Parris *bass, Jeremy Berkman *trombone, Barry Mirochnik *drums, Debra Jean Creelman *backup vocals, Jesse Zubot *violin . Our first 13 Reviews and they are GLOWING HOT!!!!!! www.straight.com/music/819111/sands-julie-mcgeer-finds-her-voice www.theprovince.com/entertainment/McGeer+wash+with+Sands/10787191/story.html http://beatroute.ca/…/the-sands-bring-a-new-caress-of-folk…/ http://goo.gl/ERhOyd #13 in the top 25 Canadian Albums of 2014 Baffled Octopus - Mark Anthony Brennan http://ridethetempo.com/2014/12/22/album-review-the-sands-beast-to-bone/ http://www.cloudsandclocks.net/CD_reviews/thesands_btb_E.html http://grayowlpoint.com/2014/10/13/review-beast-to-bone-the-sands/ http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Album+Week+Sands+Beast+Bone/10336331/story.html http://www.straight.com/music/758671/sands-welcome-autumn-beast-bone http://www.newcanadianmusic.ca/releases/b/beast-to-bone/the-sands/2014-10-28 Artwork by Lee Hutzulak photos by Susanne Uliana photography