Small Sanctions will release Feather Habits Tuesday October 1 at New Brookland Tavern.
I’ve hardly been able to contain my excitement over the release of new music from Small Sanctions for a couple of reasons. First being, they practice in my basement, and they have been for about the past 6 months. It’s been impressive to hear them rehearse weekly, most of that time without a band name, scrapping songs, writing new songs, and perfecting their young catalog before debuting online or via live performance. It’s given them the ability to come out of the gate prepared, with a focus that most new bands don’t have.
Small Sanctions is a three-piece band, made up of veterans of the South Carolina music community. Chief songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist Grayson Venters made a name for himself as a teenager with both his solo music, and his band The Devil and the Lion, which enjoyed a dedicated fan base and opening slots for bands like All Get Out and Manchester Orchestra. His post Devil and the Lion years saw the release of a solo EP and a stint with much-loved Columbia indie rock band Calculator. Venters is joined in Small Sanctions by Nate Puza (Latenights, Hello Tomorrow) on drums and John Fowler (Then Came the Dawn, Vices) on bass.
“Judicial Lovers” and the upcoming Feather Habits EP separates itself from Venters past material with more intricate guitar work and headier song writing. The three-piece focus throughout the upcoming EP on detail and definition as you can hear on the first single streaming above. Open tunings and rhythm strumming are traded in for cutting guitar lines and jaunty vocal delivery paired with an angular rhythm section.
Feather Habits was recorded with Stagbriar’s Alex McCollum and mastered by Kenny McWilliams at Archer Avenue Studio.
sounds like Patrick Stump went indie pop