Brown Shark, Red Lion is a story that manifested itself out of a conversation Korkidis had with his late grandmother about the disappearance of two family acquaintances – one in the late 1800’s, and one later in the mid 1900’s. With little more than that, the idea was to create a story around a protagonist who truly was a commercial photographer and amateur astronomer that existed in Eastern Turkey around the mid-late 1800’s; fully embracing the first instant photography development system known as collodion or wet plate method. With the exception of some found photographs, the real story of the disappearance was scant at best so a story was devised in which “Lev” (the protagonist) found himself stumbling upon what he thought to be the workings of parasitic angels and demons in his life; slowly sliding from the background to the foreground of his photographs; later entering his own life with a proposition that many men have succumbed to since the advent of our existence: a trade up. Each song on the record follows a linear narrative arc that simultaneously deals with photography (the collodion method and photo trading), astronomy, these earth bound parasitic gods (based loosely on some of the half baked ideas of aliens proposed by Bob Frissell and Erich von Daniken), and a family relative named “Bedia” who sought out the truth of his disappearance nearly a generation later and also later went missing.
The record was tracked in various New England studios with Scott Riebling (Fall Out Boy, Von Bondies), mixed by the esteemed and darling Scott Solter (John Vanderslice, Spoon, Pattern is Movement), and mastered by Dave McNair (Midlake, Los Lobos) of Sterling Sound in New York. The end result is a departure from contemporaries’ “I know a guy with Pro Tools” approach to recording.
Artist – Eksi Ekso
Album – Brown Shark, Red Lion
US Release Date – March 15, 2011
Track Listing:
01. Kills Of The Flood Tide
02. Carte De Visite
03. Rein, White Sun
04. Brown Shark, Red Lion
05. Traitor Traitor
06. Bellows To Brass Lens
07. 14 For 3
08. West Of Rize
09. The Pilot And The Pod
10. A Dead Light
11. Black Sea Accomplice
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