Marjorie Fair

Marjorie Fair is an indie rock/shoegaze American band formed in New Jersey by musician Evan Slamka, and based in Los Angeles, California. The band is best known for their debut album Self Help Serenade, released in 2004 on Capitol Records. Marjorie Fair's melodic psychedelia has been compared to Mercury Rev, Pernice Brothers, The Beach Boys, Grandaddy, Elliott Smith and the solo works of Jon Brion, who contributed minor parts to Self Help Serenade.[1][2]

Following the release of Self Help Serenade in the UK on May 31, 2004, Marjorie Fair toured Europe and opened for indie acts including Modest Mouse and The Bees. Marjorie Fair played a series of West Coast residencies in the fall, while awaiting Capitol to release their album stateside. The album did not end up being released in the United States until July 19, 2005 and was supported by a very short U.S. tour. The group promoted the album with small bursts of touring, playing with Tegan and Sara and Mellowdrone that fall.[3]

In summer 2006, Marjorie Fair was recruited to open for John Mayer and Sheryl Crow on a massive stadium tour, but were suddenly dropped by Capitol thereafter.[4]

In November 2013, Slamka posted a photo to the Marjorie Fair Facebook page with an image of a Macintosh desktop folder labeled FINAL MIXES MASTERED. A week later, Slamka posted a montage of unreleased Marjorie Fair recordings to SoundCloud under the pseudonym oleofontana.

In August, Slamka posted a photo of a digital audio workstation with the caption "Hell freezes over as the uber talented Mark Chalecki puts the final mastering touch on....the 'record'" Chalecki, a former Capitol mastering engineer, counts albums by Grandaddy, Silversun Pickups and Mazzy Star among his many projects. Subsequent posts teased a new release with a photo of a CD-R labeled "MF 8-15-14" and hinting at the formation of a label, Psychic Bully Records.[5]

In a series of posts in early 2015, Slamka teased cover art for a new Marjorie Fair album to be titled I Am My Own Rainbow. That April, Marjorie Fair contributed two new songs to the indie film The Last Treasure Hunt.[6]

In October 2015, a redesigned website appeared which featured a brand new Marjorie Fair recording, "Fields." The track list includes ten songs: "Brothers and Sisters," "Black Holes," "Wandering Star," "14th Century Man," "Avalanche," "Save Time," "Northstar," "Fields," "Haven't You Heard?" and "Songbird." Slamka confirmed in a forum post that three of the new Marjorie Fair songs were remixed from the 2010 Square On Square EP. "Northstar" is the most radically remixed of the three songs, with numerous additional keyboards, drum machine patterns and effects throughout. The others ("Black Holes" and "Songbird") are virtually identical to their original Square on Square mixes.[7]

I Am My Own Rainbow was released digitally March 25, 2016 on Psychic Bully. The album was preceded by first single "Songbird". There is no release date for a physical release on CD or vinyl yet.[8]

Current members
  • Evan Slamka - Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
  • Nicholas Johns - Bass, Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals
  • Dylan Ryan - Drums, Percussion

Past members
  • Wayne Faler - Guitar
  • Dain Luscombe - Keyboards
  • Chris Tristram - Bass guitar
  • Scott Lord - Bass guitar
  • Mike Delisa - Drums
  • Jayson Larson – Drums
  • Marjorie Fair 2020
    Josh Brown - Keyboards

Discography

Albums

  • Self Help Serenade (May 31, 2004 - UK) (July 19, 2005 - US) (iTunes digital release included bonus track "Waves (Live On Indie 103.1)")
  • I Am My Own Rainbow (March 25, 2016, digital only)

EPs

  • Sessions (iTunes digital release only) (October 25, 2005)

Singles

  • "Stare" b/w "How Can You Laugh," "Science Of Your Mind," and "Timmy" (May 17, 2004 - UK)
  • "Waves" b/w "What I Said" and "True Lovers" (October 18, 2004 - UK)

Trivia
  • Their song "Empty Room" was played in a scene of the teenage drama TV series One Tree Hill as well as The O.C.
  • Their song "Hold on to You" was featured in the twentieth episode of the second season of the crime TV series Bones.
  • They have toured with acts such as John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, and Porcupine Tree.
  • Twilight author Stephenie Meyer included both "Stare" and "Empty Room" in her official playlist of songs that loosely follow the sequence of 2006 novel New Moon, indicating that she felt both songs illustrated Bella's point of view in the story[9]

References
  1. "Marjorie Fair - Self Help Serenade". Uncut. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  2. Khong, Rachel. "Marjorie Fair - Self Help Serenade". Pitchfork. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  3. "Latest News". marjoriefair.com. Archived from the original on July 27, 2004. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  4. "Marjorie Fair - Self Help Serenade". Google Play. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  5. Marjorie Fair (official site) http://www.marjoriefair.com. Retrieved 22 January 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. The Last Treasure Hunt (official site) http://www.thelasttreasurehuntmovie.com/. Retrieved 22 January 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. "Marjorie fair". Marjorie Fair (official site). Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  8. "I Am My Own Rainbow". Apple Music. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  9. Meyer, Stephenie. "New Moon playlist". Stepheniemeyer.com. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
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