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FANS FUND NEW GAVIN CASTLETON RECORD (AND THEN SOME)

PORTLAND, Ore., Aug 17, 2010 -- When he couldn't find a label to fund his tenth release, Won Over Frequency, Portland-based songwriter/producer Gavin Castleton turned to his fanbase for direct support. Using the Kickstarter website to launch a fundraiser with a hilarious self-produced video and clever incentives, Castleton met and surpassed his funding goal less than 48 hours after launching his campaign. Won Over Frequency will be released digitally on 9/24 and in stores 10/1. The Gavin Castleton Trio will embark on a cross-country fall tour to promote it.

Banking on unpredictability has secured Castleton a fiercely loyal niche audience for his evolving brand of indie-prog-pop. "The concept for this record is that there is no concept. My last five records were these weighty concept records, each with their vernacular and aesthetic, and my next record [a children’s record called Travelight to be released at Christmas] is a concept record, so the most refreshing thing I can do right now is explore simplicity," explains Castleton, who describes Won Over Frequency as an album borne of the Peter Gabriel/Paul Simon/Steely Dan era of songwriting. The album is also rife with guest performances from Steve Choi (of RX Bandits), Matt Fazzi (of Taking Back Sunday and Happy Body Slow Brain), Lex Land, Keith Brush (of Blue Cranes), DiViNCi (Soliloquists of Sound), and more. The artwork itself was a massive collaborative effort, the bulk of which was documented in a recent stop-motion video posted by Castleton.

Castleton gained critical acclaim in 2009 for his self-produced full-length Home (on indie label Five One Inc.), a massive concept record about love, loss, and zombies. The album’s first single "Coffeelocks" enjoyed heavy rotation on specialty stations around the country, most notably as the Top Tune of the Day on LA’s influential KCRW’s "Morning Becomes Eclectic" show where Castleton and his band performed live on his '09 CD release tour. Viral videos of Castleton performing epic looping covers of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer," Prince/Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U," and Bjork's "Come to Me," introduced a whole new generation of listeners to Castleton’s work via blogs, tweets, and Facebook pages the world over. He keeps his audience invested by weaving the narratives of his concept record together through serial fiction pieces published regularly on his blog, The Great Consolidation.

Castleton has toured the country with his trio relentlessly for years, booking and promoting most of the tours himself. Joining The Gavin Castleton Trio on most of the dates will be another KCRW favorite, Lex Land, as well as Happy Body Slow Brain (featuring ex-members of Taking Back Sunday and Facing New York). Both artists will also be releasing new albums this month. You can find tourdates and stream both Home (now with Director’s Commentary!) and Won Over Frequency at gavincastleton.com.

Recent Commendations

"Home is a bizarrely intriguing prog-pop album that only works because of Castleton's spectacular voice. If you want to be challenged while still enjoying pop songs, this disc's the way to go." - Alternative Press

“His live sets drip with soul and funk and are always finished in a coat of sincerity.” - BeatCrave

"Coffeelocks is an uber cute exchange that will more than likely be shared over dozens of cups of coffee throughout the years." - Filter Magazine

“Home is a lush, musically diverse endeavor...hard to believe it's not coming from major-label resources.” - Mother Jones

"Castleton has a tremendous gift for fashioning grand cinematic songs that swell with ambitious prose" - Portland Mercury

About Gavin Castleton

Gavin Castleton began playing the piano at the age of three. At thirteen he left classical music to study jazz with David Azarian. At fifteen he and some friends formed "futurock" band Gruvis Malt, and from 1995 to 2004 they toured the US and released nine recordings (one with Warner subsidiary Lakeshore Records, and the other eight independently). In 2004 Castleton embarked on a solo career and over the next three years released four full-length records, three EPs, and self-booked numerous national tours. He also performed and recorded as a member of action-adventure rock trio Ebu Gogo, indie rock phenoms Facing New York, drum n' bass/hip hop act One Drop, and morrocon jazz ensemble Club D'Elf. He has produced a handful of records by other artists, made numerous guest appearances on records both foreign and domestic (in 2008 he debuted in the UK collaborating with IK7 recording artist Stateless on their Window 23/Great White Whale 7"), and tinkered with various remixes (most recently, Portland indie-jazz band Blue Cranes). He won Best Electronica/DJ/Hip-Hop Act three years in a row in the Providence Phoenix, where he lived before moving to Portland, OR in 2008. Since relocating to the west coast Castleton has released two EPs, several music videos, and his most ambitious solo record to date, the zombie-apocolypse-turned-love-story concept record Home, which he has relentlessly toured the country to promote.