ASTHMATIC KITTY RECORDS TO RELEASE DM STITH DEBUT

Asthmatic Kitty Records is set to release the debut recording by DM Stith, the EP Curtain Speech, on December 9. A creative colleague of label-mates Sufjan Stevens, Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) and others, Stith is a one-man-band of layered, orchestral sounds using piano, guitar, strings, electronics, choir, percussion and pennywhistles. Stith’s forthcoming full-length, Heavy Ghost, will come out early next year.

The songs on Curtain Speech reflect a literal autobiography,referencing the songwriter’s own apprehension to emerge from behind the veil of anonymity (from closet songwriter to recording artist), as well as his recent nomadic ventures from Brooklyn to Buffalo to Bloomington, Indiana, where he’s currently enrolled at the graduate school for design at Indiana University. Written and recorded over a year in Brooklyn, Houghton and Holland, Michigan (an odd coincidence with the label’s own history), and mixed in San Diego with Rafter Roberts, the final EP features appearances by many of the extended label community including Sufjan Stevens, Worden, Rafter, Sebastian Krueger and string quartet Osso.

Some of the songs are structured as suites, or mini-soundtracks, using repeated themes but not always sticking to a traditional verse-chorus-verse model. This approach calls to mind contemporaries Antony and the Johnsons, Grizzly Bear, and sometimes the explosiveness of Animal Collective. However, a handful of other influences cloud the comparison as hints of the dissonance of Sonic Youth and Henryk Gorecki, expressive vocal techniques of Caetano Veloso and Mary Margaret O'Hara, and the romance and textures of Benjamin Britten and Edward Elgar underpin even the simplest of gestures.

Stith contributed design help on Shara Worden’s albums, as well as backup vocals and prepared piano to a few songs on Bring Me The Workhorse. During that period Stith began composing his own work tapping into an earlier passion. Worden encouraged him to share his private songs with Asthmatic Kitty Records, and after hearing only two demo songs, the label invited Stith to write and record an album, Curtain Speech. He may have taken coaxing from friends to get on stage, but now that he is there he stands confidently and ready to perform the first act.

DM STITH - "Thanksgiving Moon" {MP3}