Roman Candle Bio
Acclaimed rockers Roman Candle will release Oh Tall Tree in the Ear, their much-anticipated
follow up to 2006's The Wee Hours Revue, May 12th on Fargo.
"The songs and lyrics on this record grew out of us thinking about the relationship between
what we hear, and what we desire," lead singer and guitarist, Skip Matheny, said about Oh
Tall Tree. On songs like "Eden Was A Garden" -- the album's opening track -- and "They
Say," listeners can hear those meditations on sound and longing play out for themselves.
The songs for this album were written mostly in a rural part of the U.K., despite the band
being from Chapel Hill, NC. "We had been playing shows in London after the Wee
Hours came out, and we decided to stay for a month with some friends of ours who owned a
manor house in east Yorkshire," says Matheny. "We stayed in an apartment above what
used to be the horse stables, and wrote a bunch of lyrics and music for the new record."
Matheny goes on to explain that the two major influences on them during this writing time,
were Tom Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll," which they had seen while in London, and Rainer Maria
Rilke's "Sonnets to Orpheus," which they were reading at the time.
Produced by Jason Lehning (Alison Krauss, The Silver Seas) and recorded in Nashville and
North Carolina, Oh Tall Tree in the Ear capitalizes on the band's distinct melodic sensibilities
and its earnest, introspective lyrics. Skip, Timshel and Logan Matheny, the trio at the core of
Roman Candle, remain a band dedicated to the power of a well-crafted song.
"We love the idea of a song, and people who write 'songs'." says Matheny "Cole Porter, Paul
Westerberg, Joni Mitchell, the list is very long, but our favorite writers and bands seem to be
dedicated to what a song is, and how to craft a good one."
Touring has always been a strong point for Roman Candle, whose live show has been called
"jaw-dropping." The band has toured with Rufus Wainwright, The Avett Brothers, Aimee
Mann, The Whigs, Patti Smith, and Birdmonster. The band also played NYC's world-famous
Radio City Music Hall in 2006 while supporting the Indigo Girls North American Tour.
Roman Candle coalesced around the Matheny family, Skip, Logan, and Timshel (Skip and
Logan are brothers, Skip and Timshel are married). They came together in Chapel Hill, a
town where pop hooks and rural roots find friendly ears. Timshel was from Portland, OR, (a
laboratory for progressive values) and the Matheny brothers from the Appalachian
mountains (a repository for traditional ones).
Chapel Hill, a college town that celebrated its own southern authenticity, was the perfect
place for a band like Roman Candle to pop up. Time-tested wisdom about seamless
musicianship between brothers certainly bore out in Roman Candle's case: Skip's fullthroated vocals and fiery guitar work meshed perfectly with Logan's rock solid drums. The
warm sound of Timshel's Fender Rhodes and Farfisa organ became one of the band's most
appealing elements of their distinctive sound and is an integral part of Oh Tall Tree. Already
they were writing sharp-eyed, situational songs about daily life.
After releasing their debut, Says Pop (2002), Roman Candle took their ebullient, hard-edged
sound on the road. The band developed into a formidable live act – critics have described
their show as "stunning" -- and gathered a fervent nationwide following.
Rolling Stone magazine picked up on Roman Candle's earthy pop around this time, calling
them Chapel Hill's "darling" band on the rise. As the national buzz around them grew, the
band connected with renowned Chapel Hill-based producer Chris Stamey (Yo La Tengo,
R.E.M., Whiskeytown). The Wee Hours Revue (2006), a collaboration with Stamey, retooled
the songs on Says Pop, strengthened and expanded the band's sound. Timshel's deft
keyboard work filled out the gaps between Skip and Nick Jaeger's hooky guitars, Jeff
Crawford's buoyant bass and Logan's telepathic drums.
The new sound was a success. The album earned critical plaudits from many major media
outlets. The Boston Globe called The Wee Hours "a stunner." Pitchfork's Grayson Currin
said "Roman Candle is one of the best, most complete American rock bands to surface in a
decade." Paste Magazine ranked the record #38 among the 100 best albums of 2006.
PopMatters said: "...you need to hear Roman Candle. Go get The Wee Hours Review:
because you can, and because it’s damn good."
Throughout 2006 and 2007 the band toured nationally, and internationally, to promote The
Wee Hours Revue, appearing twice on Bob Harris' program on BBC Radio 2. Nearly a year
after its release, the record was still attracting ecstatic praise in publications like Harp
Magazine, which called it "one of the sharpest roots-rock albums of the decade."
On moving back to the U.S. with the new songs in hand, the band started recording and
arranging the songs at their family studio in Wilkesboro, NC. In their new songs the band's
lyrics became even more complex, its appreciation of the ineffable more explicit. After
signing with Nashville-based label Carnival Recording Company, Roman Candle continued to
record, finishing the album that would become Oh Tall Tree in the Ear (the band boosted the
title from Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus), with producer Jason Lehning in Nashville over the last
half of 2008.
With Oh Tall Tree in the Ear the band's writing is at its most evolved, injecting a wry wit into
their rollicking etudes on the human condition. At the end of Oh Tall Tree Skip Matheny
stands flat-footed in the gale of guitar noise that opens "Early Aubade," and, at the top of
his lungs, thanks the stars just for shining, you can hear him inviting you to share in the
band's amazement at the world they live in. It's our world, too, and Roman Candle is here to
remind us how lucky we are.