Artists
Biography
Hunt, gather, scavenge. Work, play, reinvent. Think, create, defend. Worship, mourn, love. Celebrate. These are the motions of The Modern Tribe.
CELEBRATION’s 2005’s self-titled debut for 4AD channeled raw energy directly from the band’s awesome live performances. Fronted by the arresting, shamanistic presence of vocalist Katrina Ford, anchored by David Bergander’s complex drum patterns, and threaded together by multi-instrumentalist Sean Antanaitis (playing guitar, keyboards, and pedal bass – simultaneously), the Baltimore trio quickly became one of the greatest balancing acts in recent musical history. And having succeeded where few bands could hope to tread, their follow-up, The Modern Tribe finds Celebration working with a wider instrumental palette to conjure a lush, powerful array of new songs. “Going into the second album, we agreed to write the kind of songs that we wanted to write, and not allow ourselves to be held back by the restraints of our past,” Ford explains.
Rhythmic loops and melodic mantras replace the primal thump of earlier material with a plethora of diffuse textures and layers, divining a nervous tension out of tightened-up arrangements and a palette of vocal chorus, horns, percussion and atmosphere. If Celebration was difficult to brand in the past, now they are completely of themselves; now, they revel in the freedom that forging a unique and stirring identity allows. The new songs spread across a panoramic expanse of anxiety and fulfillment, of a sound liberated from rules, living for today and tomorrow, shaking loose from the past in bold and sensual strokes.
Following intensive live dates in North America and Europe, the group decided to change up their writing approach from that of previous efforts. “The Modern Tribe was written in two parts,” Ford says. “The first group of songs we worked on after we got off the road last fall. David went on vacation in Greece, and left Sean and I with some drum tracks he had sampled. Together we wrote some loose ideas around them, and when he got back, we showed him our homework.” The second half was cast in marathon practice sessions prior to entering the studio, once more with David Andrew Sitek (TV on the Radio). The Modern Tribe reveals this approach in its push-pull dynamics; soaring ballads like “Evergreen” and “Heartbreak” coax out the ethereal in latter-day soul, while danceable offerings like “Pony” and “Hands Off My Gold” and the hypnotic lope of “Pressure” turn the screws on a present-day world mired in conflict and chaos.
It’s true that uncertain times strengthen the connections between kindred spirits. Ford explains, “The title is homage to friendships with the people we’ve worked and connected with. Bands like Antibalas, Dragons of Zynth, TV on the Radio, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs – all good friends and musical collaborators, along with others. Together, we’re the modern tribe.” And as tribes grow, their powers grow with them. The Modern Tribe features contributions from members of all the above groups, but the end result unmistakably belongs to Celebration.
Another key to understanding the group’s spell is the vibrant, on-the-edge culture of their surroundings, something which has experienced a recent surge with new bands from their city making critical and artistic pathways in a multitude of approaches. “Sean and I lived in Detroit and New Orleans before moving to Baltimore a decade ago,” Ford offers from her kitchen in the Remington neighborhood. “This place was really dangerous when we got here; I guess it’s less so now. But there’s something about living in these cities that are known as murder capitals. There’s a sort of charmed existence here amidst the sketchiness.” To live in a place where lives are routinely taken away seems to have graced Celebration with an otherworldly, knowing aura that understands exactly the preciousness of life and our tenacious hold on it, of the rituals involved in giving praise to the days we’ve been granted on this Earth.
“We look at the world and where we are today as man, dissatisfied with injustices served to people and to the planet,” Ford notes. “In this music, we’re trying to find something beautiful in it all.”
CELEBRATION’s 2005’s self-titled debut for 4AD channeled raw energy directly from the band’s awesome live performances. Fronted by the arresting, shamanistic presence of vocalist Katrina Ford, anchored by David Bergander’s complex drum patterns, and threaded together by multi-instrumentalist Sean Antanaitis (playing guitar, keyboards, and pedal bass – simultaneously), the Baltimore trio quickly became one of the greatest balancing acts in recent musical history. And having succeeded where few bands could hope to tread, their follow-up, The Modern Tribe finds Celebration working with a wider instrumental palette to conjure a lush, powerful array of new songs. “Going into the second album, we agreed to write the kind of songs that we wanted to write, and not allow ourselves to be held back by the restraints of our past,” Ford explains.
Rhythmic loops and melodic mantras replace the primal thump of earlier material with a plethora of diffuse textures and layers, divining a nervous tension out of tightened-up arrangements and a palette of vocal chorus, horns, percussion and atmosphere. If Celebration was difficult to brand in the past, now they are completely of themselves; now, they revel in the freedom that forging a unique and stirring identity allows. The new songs spread across a panoramic expanse of anxiety and fulfillment, of a sound liberated from rules, living for today and tomorrow, shaking loose from the past in bold and sensual strokes.
Following intensive live dates in North America and Europe, the group decided to change up their writing approach from that of previous efforts. “The Modern Tribe was written in two parts,” Ford says. “The first group of songs we worked on after we got off the road last fall. David went on vacation in Greece, and left Sean and I with some drum tracks he had sampled. Together we wrote some loose ideas around them, and when he got back, we showed him our homework.” The second half was cast in marathon practice sessions prior to entering the studio, once more with David Andrew Sitek (TV on the Radio). The Modern Tribe reveals this approach in its push-pull dynamics; soaring ballads like “Evergreen” and “Heartbreak” coax out the ethereal in latter-day soul, while danceable offerings like “Pony” and “Hands Off My Gold” and the hypnotic lope of “Pressure” turn the screws on a present-day world mired in conflict and chaos.
It’s true that uncertain times strengthen the connections between kindred spirits. Ford explains, “The title is homage to friendships with the people we’ve worked and connected with. Bands like Antibalas, Dragons of Zynth, TV on the Radio, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs – all good friends and musical collaborators, along with others. Together, we’re the modern tribe.” And as tribes grow, their powers grow with them. The Modern Tribe features contributions from members of all the above groups, but the end result unmistakably belongs to Celebration.
Another key to understanding the group’s spell is the vibrant, on-the-edge culture of their surroundings, something which has experienced a recent surge with new bands from their city making critical and artistic pathways in a multitude of approaches. “Sean and I lived in Detroit and New Orleans before moving to Baltimore a decade ago,” Ford offers from her kitchen in the Remington neighborhood. “This place was really dangerous when we got here; I guess it’s less so now. But there’s something about living in these cities that are known as murder capitals. There’s a sort of charmed existence here amidst the sketchiness.” To live in a place where lives are routinely taken away seems to have graced Celebration with an otherworldly, knowing aura that understands exactly the preciousness of life and our tenacious hold on it, of the rituals involved in giving praise to the days we’ve been granted on this Earth.
“We look at the world and where we are today as man, dissatisfied with injustices served to people and to the planet,” Ford notes. “In this music, we’re trying to find something beautiful in it all.”