Risley Announce Upcoming LP & Unveil First Single

Portland's Risley returns with their sophomore release, 'Meantime Fades' on July 2nd, 2021. Recording of the live tested material began just before the pandemic hit and was finished and mixed at home over the last year of lockdown. You can hear the lead single and the alternate take on it now.

The first single/B-side from the record are two flipsides of the same coin. Hunted and Haunted are alter ego takes on the same song, the latter closing things out on the bonus tracks and the former, the third track on the album. It's a song about opening yourself up to the world and possibility in general. At 180 bpm, Hunted sets an undeniable and feverish pace, while Haunted exists in an open and gushing landscape, set to the heartbeat of the kick drum. They're the only songs that share common DNA but together showcase very different sides to the band's dynamic.

Thursday, July 1st, the band will commemorate the release with a live streamed show from the Crystal Ballroom in Portland at 6pm PST/9pm EST. It will be viewable on the Crystal Ballroom's Facebook and Instagram accounts.

This time around, the sound and lineup are far more unified. A bold and lush indie guitar landscape is topped with themes of yearning for connection and togetherness in modern day isolation, the passage of time and calling the charge to recover what's been lost in the fire.

Singer/Guitarist Michael Deresh has been a fixture of the Portland music community for ages. He was one of the founding members of PDXPOPNOW! From 2002-2010, his band Tea for Julie opened for acts like The Lemonheads, Menomena, Snow Patrol, Evan Dando, Matt Pond PA, The Ocean Blue and The Thermals. Their two albums were in heavy rotation on Seattle's KEXP and Portland's KNRK.

In 2010, he founded Lamplight Recording Studio in SE Portland and has recorded and produced favorite local albums for bands like Genders and Stoner Control.

2016 brought the release of Risley's self title debut. It ranged widely in style and personnel, with 12 friends from band's like Genders, Sunbathe and Typhoon joining him throughout the album's 22 tracks.

Since that time Risley has been a regular player live, locally and regionally. Additionally, this time saw solo shows for Deresh everywhere from Argentina and Brazil to back home at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, just this February.

Over the last few years, the lineup and sound settled in and gained focus as they really gelled as a band. Jaime Hazerian relocated from LA where she'd been playing guitar in the post rock band 'Arms for Tripoli' and touring with Pinback. She and Michael were a natural fit, musically finishing each other's sentences and collaborating prolifically. Tim Skerpon brought a real dynamic, nuanced and energetic pulse on drums to the often dreamy vibe and added occasional flute to the band's sound. After moving back from Boston where he'd been hand making boutique guitar pedals, Cris Whitcomb took over bass, delivering stalwart and sticky hooks that provide foundation to the many interwoven guitar overlays and deliver the drum beats to them.

The vinyl core album tracklist of 13 songs is accompanied by 6 additional bonus tracks, including a Mazzy Star cover, in the digital download and on all streaming platforms.

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