Austinist Artist Profile: The Kingsbury Manx, Tonight @ Emo's

The Kingsbury Manx have had a hard row the past few years. While touring in support of 2003’s Aztec Discipline, a psych-pop romp that shared sonic territory with fans and contemporaries the Shins, the band got in a car accident that left the majority of their gear destroyed. Shortly thereafter, singer/guitarist Kenneth Thompson parted with the band on friendly terms. Two years later, the Manx have returned in phoenixlike fashion with The Fast Rise and Fall of the South, an album audibly rooted not so much in Southern music as Sixties English pop. (Do we hear a titular nod to Kinks album Arthur or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire?) Rise and Fall was co-produced and recorded by Wilco’s Mike Jorgensen, which makes sense given both bands’ increasingly anglicized sounds. The album is sparer than its predecessors, and musically recalls Odyssey and Oracle-era Zombies and Preservation Society-era Kinks, with vocals and lyrics that remind us of lo-fi lesser-knowns the Vehicle Flips.

The band ended their yearlong hiatus to tour, and they’re rolling into town tonight. Help us welcome them back at Emo’s, where they’ll be playing with the Standard and the Heavenly States.

[The Kingsbury Manx Official Site]

Members:
Bill Taylor – vocals, guitar, banjo
Ryan Richardson – drums, bass, vocals
Clarque Blomquist – bass, drums, vocals
Paul Finn – piano, Rhodes

Latest Record:
The Fast Rise and Fall of the South on Yep Roc

Artist Quote:
"A lot of the new stuff is complicated, but we can pull it off onstage. We're asking a lot of Paul. We're asking him to be the Neil Peart of keyboards, spinning around and playing all these things." –Bill Taylor, from Magnet

Playing At:
Emo's
Monday, November 28th