Biography
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Years Active
2001 – present (23 years)
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Founded In
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Members
- Geoffrey O'Connor
Crayon Fields are a four-piece Melbourne based band signed to the labels Chapter Music and Rallye.
They have been described as having an artful naïve-pop aesthetic and as lo-fi.
The line up consists of singer-songwriter Geoff O'Connor on vocals and guitar, Brett Hudson on bass guitar, Chris Hung on second guitar, Synthesizer and percussion and Neil Erenstrom on drums. O'Connor also has a solo side-project, recording as Sly Hats, signed to Nervous Jerk Records, with one album to date: Liquorice Night. O'Connor has since dropped the 'Sly Hats' moniker and begun recording and performing his solo material as 'Geoffrey O'Connor'.
Raised on the classic, guitar-ringing psychedelia of the '60s (The Zombies, The Byrds) with a lo-fi indie rock approach not unlike that of the Elephant 6 collective, Melbourne, Australia group the Crayon Fields formed in 2002 before the members graduated high school. In the following few years, the band supported the likes of the Unicorns, New Pornographers, Stereolab, Cornelius, Dirty Three, Electrelane, Deerhoof and Architecture in Helsinki in concert. Although their gear was stolen (and later recovered) halfway through the recording process, the band managed to complete their debut album, Animal Bells, co-released by Chapter Music and Trifekta records in mid-2006.
Their debut full length album Animal Bells was released on 16 October 2006 and 5 November 2006 on vinyl.It was given a rating of 7.8 by Pitchfork Media and compared to the likes of The Beach Boys, The Zombies and The Association. In late 2008 Crayon Fields completed the recording of their 2nd album and released the 7" single 'Mirror Ball'. The band then released a UK 7" single 'Voice Of Paradise' on the Passport label and toured Europe and the UK in April and May 2009 before releasing a 3rd 7" single 'All The Pleasures Of The World' in August 2009. Their second album, 'All The Pleasures of the World' was released in September 2009 on Chapter Music (Australia) and Rallye Records (Japan). The album was given a 7.8 by Pitchfork Media, has been featured on many prominent blogs throughout the US and UK such as Big Stereo and Music (For Robots) and has received airplay on US radio stations such as KCRW, KEXP and Woxy. In Australia the album has received heavy airplay on community radio stations, with both 'Mirror Ball' and 'All The Pleasures Of The World' being added to rotation on national youth radio station JJJ.
In March 2010 Crayon Fields toured the US for the first time, performing a number of shows in New York, LA and Austin as part of the SXSW festival, which included a live to air set for KEXP radio. In Australia Crayon Fields have performed at the Big Day Out, Golden Plains, Parklife and Laneway festivals and toured with Peter Bjorn and John (SWE), Cornelius (JAP), New Pornographers (CAN), The Dirty Three, Stereolab (UK), The Mountain Goats (US), Spoon (US), The Go! Team (UK) and Built To Spill (US). They toured the U.S for a second time in October 2010, and included a number of CMJ festival shows.
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