Gothic Theatre
Facing New York
Facing New York—a group of five young San Francisco Bay Area musicians—are the perfect test subject. A few months ago they found themselves in a vehicle together. This wasn’t your standard vehicle (wheels and metal and such)… no, this was a vehicle of a different design, a vehicle for making music. It was a product of circumstance: two of them roommates, two of them childhood friends, two of them playing together for years (overlapping circumstance, if you do the math). Now the vehicle is moving forward, quickly, and it’s carrying them with it.
By aspiring to the greatness of their forebears, and creating something wholly their own, Facing New York are speeding forward to take their place among the frontrunners—those defining the ever-shifting musical landscape of tomorrow. It’s like that SUV commercial with the car going through all seasons at once and making its own road. But not at all, and much better. The band’s debut EP, Swimming Not Treading, is a premature marvel. They went into the studio with producer Chris Fudurich (RxBandits, Nada Surf, Finch, Simple Minds), and came out with a 25-minute moodpiece slyly ageless and unapologetically modern.
