Denton Product Fergus & Geronimo Announces Full-Length Debut Details, A New Seven-Inch and a Show at Shea Stadium. Whoa, Really?

Back in June, we passed along word of Denton-based Fergus & Geronimo’s signing to Sub Pop imprint Hardly Art. Plenty’s changed since June, though; Fergus & Geronimo’s Jason Kelly and Andrew Savage moved to Brooklyn to finish up work on their new album late this summer. Now, they have something to show for it.

This morning, Hardly Art and the band’s representation passed along word of two upcoming releases from the band: A seven-inch disc for “Never Satisfied,” which will come out on October 26, and its debut full-length, called Unlearn, which will come out on January 18.

After the jump, stream the A and B sides of the upcoming seven-inch, check the album art for the upcoming full-length, and check out the full press release announcing the two–as well as word of the band’s upcoming performance at the CMJ Festival where, of all places, F&G will get to perform, apparently, at Shea Stadium? That can’t be right, can it?

Fergus & Geronimo prep Unlearn, their debut LP for Jan. release on Hardly Art

Things that come from
Texas are often odd and grand, and this is no exception for Denton’s Fergus
& Geronimo. Named after the rival child gang leaders from the 1994 movie
War Of The Buttons, their music is at times both focused and loose, and
comes from a wide range of unexpected influences. At the core of the group is
Jason Kelly and Andrew Savage, who met while Kelly was recording and mixing a
record for Teenage Cool Kids, a band started by Savage. During that four month
process of recording, Kelly and Savage bonded over music, the creative process
of recording, and the possibility of having a band that draws from a variety of
sources. Black and Chicano doo-wop, the energy and atmosphere of classic soul,
the precise control of Frank Zappa, psychedelia, and a thought to nearly
everything in between. “Sparks is a pretty big influence – not just musically,
but the way that band operates,” Savage adds. “It is two guys making weird music
with no other agenda than being creative and surprising, and that’s what I want
this band to be. That band is a great example of a group that makes no
compromises for creativity.”
 
Unlearn is the group’s
first full-length after releasing a handful of singles on various labels over
the past two years. Kelly admits to being “very excited and proud” that the
record will be released on Hardly Art. Unlearn is an 11-track history lesson on
the world of popular music with lush R&B harmonies, authentic rock and roll
energy, and a fair share of experimentation. “On this record especially we got
into a lot of backmasking and pitch control. But no real rules, it’s kind of
anything goes,” Savage notes. Both members share writing duties and play and
sing everything on the record, with the exception of Elyse Schrock’s vocals on
the title track, and Casey Carpenter and Monet Robbins on flute and sax,
respectively. “We went out of our way to treat every song as its own and to give
each song different tones and atmosphere,” says Kelly. This concept pays off
like a jackpot, with each song as a unique piece of a patchwork quilt that fits
all of the sounds and styles together like a brilliant puzzle. Unlearn
at times sounds old and at times new, but always authentic and
informed.
 
So can you unlearn what you
know, as the title track suggests? In a world where information waits in line to
enter your brain, how does one decide what path of influence is best to take? “I
think that a band like Fergus & Geronimo is more naturally spawned in a
place less exposed or less saturated with culture.  We got into the music we are
into because we somehow wandered into it, and just because we both have a
natural inclination for being odd,” Savage remarks.

Unlearn is
a dynamic of raw passion and indifference that has a really good chance of
sulking its way into the mind of the listener. The less you look, the more you
find indeed. 

– Written kindly by Derek
Erdman.