Agesandages

When Pseudosix broke up, frontman Tim Perry found himself disheartened by the apathy of the Portland music scene. As a response to the disaffected crowds he faced, he set out to create a band that would work as earnestly as possible to get out there and try to move people, and in 2008 he formed Ages and Ages. Recruiting a crew of multi-instrumentalists who included former Pseudosix side player Kate O’Brien-Clarke as well as John McDonald, Graham Mackenzie, Daniel Hunt, Rob Oberdorfer, and Lisa Stringfield, Perry assembled a team that would not only be able to realize his intricate instrumental arrangements, but also pull off huge vocal harmonies. Similar to his former band, Ages and Ages have a pastoral, psychedelic sound, but the tent revival vocals add a layer of exuberance to the music that can combat even the grayest days in the Pacific Northwest. The band eventually signed on with Knitting Factory and began work on its debut with producer Kevin Robinson. The result was the album Alright You Restless, which was released in early 2011, and was followed by a US tour and successful appearances at the SXSW festival in Texas.

Their budding progress was interrupted after a string of tragedies affected the collective and they also underwent a dramatic line-up change, with Becca Schultz and Annie Bethancourt joining the outfit, while O'Brien-Clarke, Stringfield, Hunt, and others departed. This shift gave Perry the opportunity to reflect on the direction of the band while on a silent meditation retreat and he subsequently began to work on new material. They entered the studio with producer Tony Lash (Elliott Smith, the Dandy Warhols, Eric Matthews) in 2013 to work on their sophomore album, Divisionary, which appeared in 2014.