Warning: preg_match() [function.preg-match]: Delimiter must not be alphanumeric or backslash in /home/tarbox23/portfire.org/wp-includes/media.php on line 1171

Warning: preg_match() [function.preg-match]: Delimiter must not be alphanumeric or backslash in /home/tarbox23/portfire.org/wp-includes/media.php on line 1171

Transtulit, our second LP, released in January 2011, mixes the soulful backbone of a rock band with the rhythmic elasticity of house and electro.

In May 2011, Transtulit won a Top Critics Award for Indie/Punk/Alternative Album of the Year at the Whalie Awards.

The 12-song LP was recorded at Silas Deane Studio in CT, and was written, arranged, and produced by Alex Pellish with Rich Freitas and Mat Tarbox.

The album features contributions from Julia Farrar, The Reducers’ Hugh Birdsall, Dawn Salerno, Dave Bentley, Don Miguel, and Luke Hunter.

In December 2010, we contributed two songs to the Cosmodemonic Telegraph Cosmosingle series. We covered the song “Riptorn” by Paisley Jungle, and added a b-side entitled “Tinsel.”

In July 2009, we released an eight track single including three remixes of the song “Safe Heat,” off of our first LP, Post-Signal, with five b-sides that show off our rougher edges.

“Tunnel,” the second song on Transtulit, is featured in this Song Spinner video at TheDay.com, produced by Peter Huoppi and Rick Koster. The band explains how the song was conceived and developed, along with vocalist Dawn Salerno, who describes how the themes and lyrics all came together:

History

Alex Pellish, Rich Freitas, and Mat Tarbox worked together in several bands throughout the 1980′s and 90′s. During this time we also recorded four-track songs in basements and apartments between Mystic, CT, Storrs, CT, and Chapel Hill, NC – while playing in seminal Mystic groups such as 17 Relics, Delta of Venus, and Skimbleshanks.

Cue the spring of 2007. Pellish has finished building a full recording studio, and wants to test drive the new equipment. He approaches Freitas and Tarbox to record rough improv jams. Six weeks of sessions produce twenty-one raw songs, which Pellish then arranges from select captured moments. Coupled with two months of drum programming and sequencing, our first LP Post Signal arose from what we felt were the most viable drafts.

We began to realize that to finish the tunes properly, we would need to call upon a diverse group of musicians who could complete each individual song. These outstanding voices would enhance the essence of the LP’s sound and scope during their limited time in the studio, helping to elevate the work.

Both albums were mastered by Michael Arafeh at The Coffeehouse, Middletown, CT -