
(Photo by Heidi E. Johnson)
Building on Buildings is a fOUR-piece band calling Madison, Wisconsin home. Like a cloudy afternoon, sun-punched in just the right places, they find a smile in sadness, never neglecting the sadness in the smile. It's the sound of black coffee with a brandy chaser. Of corduroy and cashmere. Of sparse sonic spaces and electroplated shimmer, fused among close friends.
comprised of:
Erin Fuller - vox/guitar
Eben Christensen - keys/bass/guitar/vox
Kris Hansen - bass
Shawn Pierce - drums
While a significant part of the album was recorded last spring, the music emanates the sort of melancholy that accompanies winter's lack of sunshine. The record's no dirge, though. It bites like a cold wind, but it leaves you feeling warm.
- Jessica Steinhoff, The Isthmus
Singer/guitarists Erin Fuller and Connie Ward write songs that feel gentle and vulnerable on the surface but have a hard-bitten undercurrent—it's music by and about 30-something and distinctly adult struggles.
"It's all about perspective.
In architecture and art, perspective is the key to making an object spring to life before your eyes or lay flat on the page. It can come in the form of a vanishing point that pulls you into the middle of a picture. It can be in details that give a song's character flesh and blood in three minutes or less.
When it comes music, it can takes years for a band to develop their own perspective and voice. Building on Buildings' self-titled three-song EP has the warmth and rough edges of a first demo, but the perspective is already there. Graphic designer Erin Fuller and photographer Connie Ward write, sing and play as if they're long-lost pieces of the same puzzle, finally able to show the full picture.
That recording was just the beginning. The local indie rockers recently released "Wheel," the first track from an album they're recording at Justin Vernon's April Base studio in Eau Claire. If this song is any indication, Building on Buildings have a richer, deeper perspective to give listeners."
- Brent Stewart, The Isthmus
"Connie Ward and Erin Fuller carry a small dose of dissonance but put forth a big share of soft wondrous harmonies in Building on Buildings' newly released single, "Wheel." The Madison quartet's self-proclaimed "gentle indie rock" sound is calm and reflective — something that should take listeners to an intimate place to discover untouched thoughts."
- Lee Gordon, Jonk Music
PRESS:
Capital Times: 'Fall for a new local band' Q&A
WMSE 91.7 - Local/Live Performance and Interview Jan. 27th
Wisconsin Public Radio - Central Time: Favorite Wisconsin-Made Music of 2014
Tone Madison: Tone Madison's Top 20 Madison records of 2014
Isthmus LP Review: Building on Buildings' first LP finds beauty in chilling moments of loss and grief
Tone Madison Interview: Embracing uncertainty with Building on Buildings
Isthmus: 2014 Fall Music Preview
Jonk Music: Solskinn 2014 Preview: Building on Buildings
Isthmus Music Feature: Designing women.
Jonk Music: Wheel Review
Isthmus MadTracks: Wheel
Arts Extract: Wheel Release
Isthmus MadTracks: Invoice
Isthmus: My top Madison Albums of 2013 - Jessica Steinhoff
Jonk Music: Concert Preview: 60 Seconds with Building on Buildings
Planet Propaganda: And The Band Played On
Jonk Music: Favorite Albums of 2013 Artist's Choice (Erin's 2013 selects)
Jonk Music: Concert Preview: El Valiente and Building on Buildings at The Shitty Barn
Isthmus: Sights and Sounds from Lost City Music Festival 2013
DOWNLOAD ONE SHEET HERE.