Friday night, local band Glass Mansions will play New Brookland Tavern as part of their SXSW Tour. The trio, which describes their sound as “indie-pop, alt-pop, electro-rock," is embarking on their fourth SXSW tour.
“SXSW is an unbelievable experience for musicians - you get to showcase your work, you get to network with promoters and like-minded industry people,” vocalist Jayna Doyle said. The rest of the trio is made up of keyboardist Blake Arambula and guitarist Patrick Beardsley.
Friday night’s show will be the band’s first since last August, and will feature the new singles “Matches” and “NIGHTSWIMMING." “NIGHTSWIMMING," which was released a month ago, is about nostalgia.
“Nostalgia, curiosity, surrender," Doyle said when asked about the story behind "NIGHTSWIMMING." "Sometimes you feel like you're just floating through life, or standing still in one place with your head barely above water. 'NIGHTSWIMMING' is about that nostalgic feeling to yearn for adventure and the unknown."
Along with “NIGHTSWIMMING” concertgoers can expect even newer music at the show Friday. “We are sitting on an EP’s worth of music that we will be releasing as individual singles through music videos and more visuals,” Doyle said. But those who are eager to hear Glass Mansions's latest won’t have to wait that long; the band will be playing the yet to be released singles throughout their tour.
Doyle claims the show will be Glass Mansions “as you’ve never seen us before.” After five years togetherand a few iterations, Doyle believes the latest configuration has a more polished sound.
“Over the past year, we've gotten really caught up in trying to please and accommodate industry people and past members and in turn kind of lost sight of who we were as artists, so we decided to take a step back and have completely rewritten all our songs in a heavier electronic direction for this next new chapter for the band in 2017,” Doyle said.
Although they lean electro-pop, Glass Mansions draws inspiration from a plethora of widely ranging artists including No Doubt, Stevie Wonder and Fiona Apple. When writing, Doyle draws from her “hurt from past relationships and Kubrick films," a quirky combination that creates the band’s unique sound.
“I like to write about lust and revenge and confrontation and the personal experience of being in a band likened to a relationship and then tuck it into lyrics that are universal to anyone that listens,” Doyle explained.
After their tour, which is the band’s twelfth that they have booked completely themselves, expect new music and deeper access into the Glass Mansions process. The concert will also feature bands Husband, Happy and Victory Dance.
The doors to New Brookland Tavern open at 8 p.m. and tickets are $10 for those under 21 and $6 for those over.