Description
American Babies‘ Stark & Red is a seven-track EP comprised of stripped-down, acoustic versions of songs from previous albums, including stand-outs like “Streets of Brooklyn,” “Winter War Games” and “Swimming At Night.” The set also features reworked, acoustic renderings of “Old Fashioned” and “Goddamn,” both from the band’s most recent 2013 full-length studio effort, Knives & Teeth. Heard in their bare-bones form, Tom Hamilton‘s provocative lyrics sit front and center, adding fresh emotional resonance to these songs. Additionally, a new voice is weaved into American Babies’ sound via Philadelphia-based singer/songwriter Ginger Coyle who joins Hamilton on vocals throughout the collection.
“I had recently started hanging with a fellow Philly musician Ginger Coyle and thought it would be cool to get her voice involved with my music. She learned some tunes and as soon as we sang together I knew I wanted to document it,” explains Hamilton. “The music on Stark and Red is all first or second takes. We set up in a room with two microphones and hit record. We didn’t over think any of it. It gave me a chance to change my ears by having to arrange songs for just one guitar and still keep it interesting. The result is a loose and lovely collection of music that came together with a few friends trying to keep busy and warm in the winter months.”
