100 Bands in 100 Days Presented by Verity Credit Union — Day 28: Among Authors
Please check out Verity Credit Union, our great partner in the 100 Bands in 100 Days local music showcase.
Music fans of the Pacific Northwest, get ready for our fourth annual year-end daily local music showcase, 100 Bands in 100 Days, where every day until December 31st, we’re showcasing a new band or artist you have to know about, presented by Verity Credit Union. Make sure you are checking the #100Bands100Days hashtag at Twitter on the daily to stay on top of all the bands featured and make sure to follow Verity on Twitter and NW_Music_Scene as well. Some days the featured act could be an established and locally-adored northwest-based musician and other times they could be a band with a small following that just hasn’t had their deserved time in the sun yet. Either way, we’re fairly confident you can come away from this daily segment with plenty of new favorites. Today’s featured artist is Among Authors.
There’s a pretty good chance that today’s band is one of the best local bands that you probably haven’t heard of before. We get flooded with submissions for the 100 Bands in 100 Days feature, some bands we know well and some we’ve heard of but aren’t as familiar with. And while we’ve reviewed 121 northwest albums so far in 2017, one of them, quite sadly, hasn’t been the latest by Among Authors. While stopping short of saying we totally dropped the ball on this one, we can confidently say I AM BECOME is one of the top albums to be released in the northwest so far this year.
A lyrically intriguing and musically emotional indie alt-rock band hailing out of Seattle, Among Authors is fronted by lead singer and keyboardist Ian Ketterer. After undergoing open-heart surgery at the age of 23, Ian relocated the band from Wisconsin to Seattle, WA to further the band’s music career. The band is unsure why they write such emotional music, maybe getting Ian’s heart ripped out (in the most literal sense) subconsciously solidifies the band’s writing process. Among Authors has been fortunate enough to be sponsored by an analog photography company called Lomography, which is based in Vienna, Austria. Among Authors wrote and recorded the music for a short film called “Dear Emma” and their music will also be featured in an upcoming Playstation 4 and Xbox One game called “On A Roll” which is due out in early 2018. Among Authors released their debut full length album I AM BECOME on physical CD and all digital platforms in April 2017. 180 gram transparent blue Vinyl is set to released in December 2017.
I AM BECOME is a 10-song epic adventure where delicate piano ballads become epic indie-rock jams and crash into walls of sound, topped by thoughtful, poignant lyrics such as in “Radio Signals” where Ketterer pleads with the universe “Am I Alone Or Is There Somebody Else?” While the three core members of the band (Ian Ketterer, Jon Livingston, Jason Ketterer) are all prolific musicians, the trio brought in some Seattle ringers like Andrew Joslyn to seal the deal on final offering, “The Overture.” Joslyn, who has dropped his signature string work into so many great northwest albums, including work with Macklemore, once again works his magic on this song. It’s over six minutes long but it keeps the listener so engaged and invested that it almost feels short.
Once again, here’s an album to play for any of your friends that try to tell you that there’s no good music being made these days.
Watch the video for “Imitation House” below.
(Listen to the EP below via Bandcamp and you can get more info about Among Authors at their website HERE.)
Submissions for 100 Bands in 100 Days are still open to any Pacific Northwest band interested in submitting. If you would like to submit for a chance to be featured in this segment, consult this link for more information on how you can do so.
A huge shoutout to Verity Credit Union for doing so much for the music community and for being such a great partner.
