... and the horse you rode in on

LP is a limited edition of 500 includes a digital download version of the album

Rock’s bread and butter is romantic tragedy. This album takes all that, crushes it up, and emerges with something new, crisp, compelling and incredibly intelligent. Sure, they rock, but they also read.

Full Description

Boy meets girl. Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy. Crushing breakup inevitably ensues. Boy drops out of life, retreats to family’s farmhouse in Northern Wales. Boy—along with rest of band—makes great record, triumphs over adversity.

Rock’s bread and butter is romantic tragedy. … and the horse you rode in on, takes all that, crushes it up, and emerges with something new, crisp, compelling and incredibly intelligent. Sure, they rock, but they also read.

The whole record echoes Britain’s foremost purveyors of pity and poetry. Hints of Morrissey’s literate lamentations, Jarvis Cocker’s over-sexed swagger, and ballboy’s broken-hearted exuberance rise and fall over the fourteen songs. From the record’s opening line, “I hope that you catch syphilis and die,” there’s a portent of the heartbroken bitterness to come.

Guitarists Mary Ralph and Jay Santana, fiddler Ethan Adlesman, bassist Mark Yoshizumi make up the core of the SYGC, providing a rock solid foundation for Elia's tortured romantic soul's notebooks full of lyrics.

With cameos by Jon Langford (Mekons, Waco Brothers), Ezra Furman, Matt Kerstein and Sam Koentopp (Brighton MA), Matt Priest (Canasta) and Martin Atkins (PiL, Killing Joke, Pigface) and many others, there's loads of talent here. It gives the whole project a "let's hang out in the parking lot of the Punkin' Donuts and make a cool records that cool kids will like" vibe.

CHOICE CUTS

One Night Stand
Something’s Happening
Sixteen Is Too Young
Tear Down The Opera House

Short Description

It's astonishing to think a band with this much going for them has not really entered the limelight before now...The music is immediately catchy and draws you in, but its the lyrics that will keep you sticking around for more.

— Swear I'm Not Paul Blog
A compelling romantic tragedy packaged in crumbled wrapping paper as if it were a discarded gift. Except, these songs are something to hold onto tightly for their poetry, bitterness, and literate, sometimes biting, lines... It's a touch of Morrissey backed up by a soused Colin Meloy (Decemberists).

— Present Magazine
... and the horse you rode in on's most endearing trait is that it showcases a band capable of creating complex and exuberant musical arrangements. Violins, trombones, trumpets and keys accompany the usual lineup of guitars, bass and drums, creating a sound that's reminiscent of an even more energetic Orange Juice...One of the most creative, contemptuous and darkly entertaining records in recent years

— Spectrum Culture
Welsh-born Elia leads his group of bookish minstrels through the ups and downs (more downs than ups)...and uses his cleverness and charm, pity and poetry, to make you smile and sing along with his woes.

— The Deli Chicago
The album's 15 concise songs are filled with brutally honest depictions of dysfunctional relationships, casual sex, disappointment, breakups, bitterness, heartache and unfulfilled lust, but the band helps the bile go down easy with exuberant folk-pop arrangements combining punkish guitars, soothing violin, loads of black humor and some defiantly anthemic pop hooks.

— KEXP