Biography
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Years Active
1996 – present (28 years)
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Founded In
Denton, Denton County, Texas, United States
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Members
- Josh T. Pearson
Lift to Experience was a band from Denton, Texas, United States that formed in 1996 with vocalist and guitarist Josh T. Pearson, drummer Andy Young and bassist Josh Browning.
When the band performed at the SXSW festival in 2000, they impressed Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie so much that the duo decided to sign the band to their record label, Bella Union, that same day.
Lift to Experience's characteristic sound comes from a solo guitar with heavy effects pedals and a modified Leslie speaker. The band's major work, released in 2001, is The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads. The album's lyrics are replete with Biblical Christian imagery relating to the Second Coming of Christ and a professed love of Texas and the United States. The music features a multilayered Wall of Sound and feedback-driven aesthetic. The album received little attention upon release, mainly because it was only available in Europe due to of a lack of money for a US release. The original 2001 album mix is notoriously unmastered, due to Bella Union only being able to afford mixing or mastering without Josh's oversight. However, this mixing choice led to the album achieving cult status on online music forums.
The band would split shortly after the album's release. After the passing of David Bowie, Josh decided to reform the band and asked Bella Union for the rights for "The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads" so they could remaster it themselves. Bella Union complied with this request and they signed to British record label Mute Records. With the help of them and engineer Matt Pence, they remastered the album "full circle, as god intended" in 2017 on digital and physical formats. Mute would also reissue a few alternate recordings of Falling from Cloud 9 in an EP on digital and physical formats. Their 1997 EP would be reissued exclusively on vinyl via The Texas- Jerusalem Crossroads deluxe vinyl boxset.
As of 2018, they have done a number of reunion tours, but have yet to record a follow up. Frontman Josh T. Pearson is also currently pursuing a solo career, while Andy Young formed a project with Elbow frontman Guy Garvey, Western Arms. Young now has a band called The Flowers of God who released a four song EP in September 2010, and as of late 2011, Josh Browning also now plays bass in Fort Worth, Texas shoegaze-styled band Year of the Bear.
http://bellaunion.com/artists/lift-to-experience
https://www.facebook.com/lifttoexperience
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