Warm Up With Distractions

By Sarah Cobarrubias in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 22, 2010 6:40PM

Winter’s officially here; the solstice has passed and, while the days have already begun to grow longer, the coldest days of the season are still ahead. If you’re searching for something to counter the biting cold, look toward Chicago’s Distractions and their warm, dreamy lounge music. In the few years the band has been together, they’ve performed largely for the underground community and in intimate local venues. But they’re quickly drawing more attention and are preparing for the release of their debut album, Dark Green Sea.

Well, that’s only partially true; the band originally released their debut LP last spring as a self-titled, limited cassette on local label Plus Tapes. They soon after signed with Infinite Best Records and spent some time touring stateside and in Canada. And now, with the support of their new label, the band is reviving the debut by re-releasing it on 12” vinyl as Dark Green Sea, remixed and remastered by Twin Sister’s Udbhav Gupta.

Dark Green Sea is a collection of mellow, jazz-influenced pop melodies. Along with shifting tempos and moody instrumentation, lead man Tom Owens sets the tone with his rich, strangely seductive baritone vocals and honest songwriting. “All Night,” for example, opens as an organ-heavy track hurried by a frantic rhythm, but slows to a steady, dreamy pace half way through. “Not Gonna Go Away,” is a love song whose lyrics declare sweetly, “I’m exactly where I want to be when I’m with you,” though they're delivered with monotone, zombie-like vocals. The song drops off towards the end and becomes an experiment in noise, filling 2+ minutes with sporadic buzzing and eerie mechanized sounds.

Perhaps the album’s strongest track, “Money is Ugly,” switches between a jangly keyboard melody and an organ-driven lounge rhythm. Owens asks with his deep croon, “Whatever happened to throwing all your coins in the fountain? / Finding a penny used to be a sign that you would be lucky / All we could ever ask for was metal indentations.”

Dark Green Sea will be released January 18 and is available for pre-order through Midheaven. In the meantime, you can catch Distractions' live performance for free January 10 at the Empty Bottle. They open for headliners Sleeping in the Aviary and local experimental pop act The Nothingheads.

Distractions perform Monday, January 10 at the Empty Bottle, 1035 N Western, 9:30 p.m., FREE, 21+