Hello! We hope the holidays were good to you all. Just a quick bit of news as we get things rolling for the year...

DARK ENOUGH FOR STARS NOW AT TONEVENDOR
The fine folks over at ToneVendor.com have decided to add Dark Enough for Stars to their catalog. This is a great site for finding really great music that is more under the radar from what you'll find at most any other retail outlet. Highly recommended! ToneVendor site

SUBBA-CULTCHA REVIEW FROM LONDON
We got a really nice review from London, England in Subba-Cultcha.

ROCKLINE REVIEW FROM ITALY
We also received a very flattering review from RockLine in Italy.

OPUS 2008 MIX
Jason over at Opuszine posted his favorite songs of 2008 mix. We were lucky enough to be included in the list with our song "The World Is Too Much With Us." Some other really great songs are on there. Check it out.

AURAL BLISS MOST BEAUTIFUL TRACKS OF 2008
We are honored to have 2 songs on the Aural Bliss radio show's list of the 50 most beautiful songs of 2008. They will be counting down all 50 songs over the course of 2 shows this month. The first 50-26 will be broadcast on Sun. Jan. 11 and then 25-1 on Sun. Jan. 18. Aural Bliss airs every Sunday 10PM-Midnight EST with 2 hrs of Dreampop, Britpop, Triphop, Shoegaze and Electronica. There's a live chat during the show for listeners all over the world to meet and discuss the music. Good times. Tune in here.

Have a great day/night depending on where you are in the world as you're reading this. Thank you for everything! =)

Au Revoir Borealis

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Au Revoir Borealis

Our friends from the UK, Fuzzy Lights, have released a new record titled "A Distant Voice". Rachel lent us her violin talents on "After the Snowstorm" and "Stella, My Brightest Star". We highly recommend giving them a listen.

www.fuzzylights.com

Man's Last Great Invention has just released their first proper album titled "none". It's available from Public EyeSore Records. Follow the link below.

http://www.publiceyesore.com/ehcat.php?eh=043

Man's Last Great Invention is a Lincoln, NE based ambient/drone band fronted by Ande Reinkordt. Ande contributed guitar to "Stella, My Brightest Star" on our new album. And I often play in Man's Last Great Invention when they play in the midwest.

-Tom

Hello! Hope this message finds everyone doing good. As we settle in for the holidays and the long, impending winter, we just wanted to share a little news with those of you who have been so kind to support us. We are DEEPLY appreciative.

DEMOS & SKETCHES CD
We have some left over copies of the Demos & Sketches CDs from the presale we did back in September. As much as we had hoped to unload them all at that time, this actually works to the benefit of those who didn't get a chance to preorder the new album. The remaining copies are available in the store to anyone who wants one for themselves or for a friend for Christmas. Once these are gone, they're gone. So get one if you want one. http://aurevoirborealis.com/store.html

ECHOES
We found out recently the syndicated Echoes radio program that can be heard on 130 NPR stations across the U.S. has been playing some selections from Dark Enough for Stars. Check it out if you get a chance. Great show! http://www.echoes.org

Hope the day is treating everyone well and that the sun shines favorably on you. =)

Au Revoir Borealis

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AU REVOIR BOREALIS
http://www.aurevoirborealis.com

BONUS CD
We have some copies of the bonus CD left over from the presale we did back in August and September. We will start offering it on our website for a small price sometime next week. For those who haven't heard, the bonus CD contains stripped down acoustic demos performed live in Steph's living room as well as a couple songs that were left off the album.

STORMY RECORDS
Dark Enough for Stars is now available at Stormy Records. This is the record shop run by the lovely and charming Windy & Carl. http://www.stormyrecords.com

VIRGIN ONLINE
Virgin has picked up the new album in France and eventually the rest of Europe.

Hope the day is treating everyone well. =)

AuRB

Some interesting thoughts here from a guy in Denver.
http://ronpowlusrolemodel.blogspot.com/2008/11/au-revoir-borealis-dark-enough-for.html

And likewise, one of thebest reviews we've ever received:
http://ronpowlusrolemodel.blogspot.com/2008/11/au-revoir-borealis-album-is-beautiful.html

http://www.realdetroitweekly.com/content/article_4678.shtml

NEW WEBSITE
We launched the new website last week.It has behind the scenes stories and info from the making of the record and photos taken during the recording sessions. You will also find out why it has taken so long for this record to happen. Plus you will be able to listen to the album in its entirety via the site as well as buy stuff if you wish. You can find it here: http://www.aurevoirborealis.com

SCOTTISH REVIEW
From Sub City Radio in Glasgow: Detroit-based ambient/experimental group Au Revoir Borealis have a lot to offer given a chance. Despite the nature of the genre they succeed in maintaining a completely manageable length to their tracks - preventing becoming bogged down in overly sustained, indefinable, sections; and instead keep you on edge using nicely spaced dynamic rises and thoughtful melodic lines- creating powerful soundscapes that never quite climax as you expect them to.

The vocal based, and more tightly structured, tracks such as "The World Is Too Much with Us," "The Key" and "Genius of Escape Who Will Startle & Amaze" are by far the most accessible. Singer Stephenie Halpert McWalters' vocals are reminiscent of Dolores O'Riordan (The Cranberries) at points in both tone and melodic style and are especially high-quality when layered and multi-tracked in "The World Is Too Much With Us."

"Dark Enough for Stars" is excellent on the whole but requires a few listens. If you enjoy the likes of Sigur Ros, Boards of Canada, Mogwai and Godspeed You Black Emperor then check out this album (released 30th September) or their MySpace page now.

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Cheers,
Au Revoir Borealis

When it came out that Au Revoir Borealis was working on a new album, I immediately had thoughts that something special was brewing on the horizon. While it had been eight years since their debut, 2000's Tienken EP, and the bandmembers had since drifted off to various side-projects (e.g., For Wishes, The Great Fiction, and Man's Last Great Invention), those early songs still stuck with me.

The Tienken EP showed great promise, revealing a band in love with a sound close to my heart while also hinting that Au Revoir Borealis weren't just interested in a mere genre exercise, but also brought to bear in their music an emotional and spiritual warmth that their peers can often lack.

And now that it's here, it's safe to say that Dark Enough For Stars doesn't really disappoint at all. While the album contains the same love of shoegazer/dream-pop evident in the earlier material, there's a darker sophistication at work, as one might've guessed from the title (itself a play on a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote); there's a definite melancholy amidst the swirl of sounds that lends itself to a contemplation perfectly suited for this burgeoning autumnal season.

The album begins with one of its strongest tracks. "The Winter Room" quickly establishes the band's two great strengths: the world-weary vocals of Stephenie McWalters (which are in the same vein as Low's Mimi Parker) and an almost preternatual control of sonics. As "The Winter Room" unfolds, it does so at solemn, almost wintry (npi) pace, so much so that you can almost see the puffs of breath as McWalters sings:

Cold and remembering
Cold but relenting
Half blind with intention
A tragic invention
Cold but remembering

Meanwhile, Steve Swartz and Tom Currie unleash layer of guitar (16 in all, according to the band's website) in blizzard-like storms so sharp and beautiful they take your breath away even as they underscore and reinforce the slight thread of hope contained within the lyrics.

"Art Of Film" ventures into similar wintry territory, with amazing and searing guitar dynamics that owe as much to Alan Sparhawk as they do to Neil Halstead. Meanwhile, McWalters sings of cinematic yearnings backed by Swartz and Currie's haunting vocals.

However, all impressive guitarwork aside, the band proves equally affecting when such things are minimized and stripped away, as they are on "The World Is Too Much With Us" (which just might be my fave track on the album).

Some might call the song plodding, but it's plodding in the same a Hou Hsiao-Hsien film is plodding. True, the song moves at a glacial pace, but is also full of rich detail, which is especially evident when listening to it on headphones. The layers of female vocals (courtesy of McWalters and Trespassers William's Anna-Lynne Williams), the softly shimmering guitars, the hum of a Hammond, and the drums' distant, ominous rumble all come together in a captivating and haunting manner.

Of the album's twelve tracks, five of them are instrumentals, and it's here where the album stumbles, if only a bit. Having listened to the album many times, it's become increasingly apparent that McWalter's vocals are the heart and soul of the band's music, grounding the impressive sonic dynamics with a touch of human warmth, longing, and grace. When she's gone, or subsumed by the band's more ambient moments, as is the case on "Bella Ballerina" and "Stella, My Brightest Star", the results may be pretty enough but they do lack a certain "grit" that her vocals bring to the proceedings.

For example, "Stella..." drifts along effortlessy on gauzy layers of guitars, Rhodes piano, and violin, and while there are vocals (courtesy of McWalters and Jessica Bailiff), they're of the wordless variety. All told, it sounds like a lengthy intro for a Sigur Rós track, one just waiting for Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto to come floating in.

All of which may sound like an odd critique—until you get to the next track, that is. "The Key" is much more stripped down and less ambient than "Stella...", but McWalters' voice (which adopts an almost Celtic lilt at times) and lyrics (which speak of magic and wonder in almost Narnian terms) bring to the track a certain mystique that "Stella...", for all of its impressive atmospherics, just doesn't quite achieve.

But this, as I said before, is a minor stumble in an album as rich and rewarding as this one. With Dark Enough For Stars, Au Revoir Borealis have handily transcended the clichés of shoegazer (and slowcore, for that matter), crafting an album rich with emotion and artistry. And one which, if you read the band's account of the recording process, was fraught with difficulty. As the band puts it on their website:

And so it is that this recording represents our collective joys and sorrows and the things that we have had to overcome to create it. It stands as a marker and as proof that all is not lost and that there is hope in knowing that each day breaks anew—that one can rest in the hope of knowing that in the middle of all darkness, beauty can be found. And that there is a treasure to fight for and hold on to in those stars that pierce through the inky blackness of our longest nights.
It's a statement that, if you're prone to cynicism, might seem hopelessly precious… until you actually make your way through Dark Enough For Stars. And then you realize that, not only is such a sentiment truer than true, but that Au Revoir Borealis have created for it a very fitting soundtrack.

Review from Italy.

http://www.ondarock.it/recensioni/2008_aurevoirborealis.htm