Tag: Eugene

WATCH: Last Year’s Man, “Still Be Here”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Last Year’s Man
Hometown: Eugene, Oregon
Song: “Still Be Here”
Release Date: April 30, 2021

In Their Words: “I wrote this song after a conversation with Ben Allen. Ben is a really fantastic composer and musician who recently started a sync agency in Vancouver, Washington. We talked about me writing something for his company that walked the line between burdened and hopeful and this song is what came almost immediately. I think we’re all eager for life to get back to what it was in some way or another and this is a love song built out of the idea that it will.

“For the video, I spent hours on archive.org not really knowing what I was searching for. It was dumb luck stumbling on these public domain videos from the 1930s and 40s. I started with a clip just to see and the music happened to line up with the dancing for a moment and it felt really beautiful. I pieced it together from there and was surprised by the wide range of emotion I felt from watching people dance in these old movies along with my song. It’s one of those happy accidents.” — Tyler Fortier, Last Year’s Man

Photo credit: Tyler Fortier

LISTEN: The Gossamer Strings, “Due to the Darkness”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: The Gossamer Strings
Hometown: Eugene, Oregon
Song: “Due to the Darkness”
Album: Due to the Darkness
Release Date: September 27, 2019

In Their Words: “Near the Black Hills of South Dakota lie the Badlands, a desolate and harsh landscape filled with steep canyons and towering spires of layered rock. The rain beats down and the wind howls, shaping and changing the land with each passing season. For ‘Due to the Darkness’ we took our inspiration from this stark place to craft a song about finding and appreciating the beauty in the dark and inhospitable places we find ourselves sometimes. Those places can remind us of our vulnerability and, hopefully, of our strength.” — Liat Lis and Kyle McGonegle, The Gossamer Strings

Photo credit: Bill Holderfield

LISTEN: Greg Felden, “Better This Way”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Greg Felden
Hometown: Los Angeles (originally from Eugene, Oregon)
Song: “Better This Way”
Album: Made of Strings
Release Date: May 24, 2019 (song); June 14, 2019 (album)

In Their Words: “‘Better This Way’ is one of my favorite tracks on the record. It’s a song about that strange state of mind you’re in when your heart is broken, sort of at a distance from the world, and how, even when you know it’s time to move on, the simplest words can sting…. It’s simple and soulful, and I like where it landed, sonically. It seems both old and new, which is really what we were going for. Producers Al Sgro and Will Golden did an amazing job giving it that vibe.” — Greg Felden

Photo credit: Tyler Graim