Challenger, to see release of The World Is Too Much For Me tomorrow!

Posted on: November 26, 2012 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0
Challenger began out of desperation. Desperate to feel better, desperate to escape, desperate for something more. Challenger is that cry. Alone, or together, the cry that sounds like a plea but builds momentum and becomes a force of change, of light, of positivity, of love; a change you can dance to.
Additionally – the members are all from Florida (the best state, they agree). John Ross sings, plays guitar, and produced all of the the pre-recorded material. Devyn Waitt plays keys, makes animal noises and is at the helm of the sequencer. She also creates all of the visual accompaniment and media for the videos and live set. John Frank provides the beat, as an accomplished drummer, he is the pulse of Challenger. Ross’ previous bands include Good Morning Engineer and The Influence. Frank was a member of Holiday Shores.
MP3 (cleared to post): Challenger – “I Am Switches”
“…one of the finest debut singles of 2012.” – 32 ft/sec

MP3 (cleared to post): Challenger – “Are You Scared Too?”
“This eerie cut off the three-piece’s debut album (which drops on November  27th)  sounds like what would happen if Peter Gabriel ever wrote a song for Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle. With 80s moody synths and gentle, almost whisper-like vocals, the track is as striking as it gets. Towards the end of the song, the mood picks up and the band’s Paul Simon circa Graceland influence becomes clear.” – Tone Deaf

Some of the songs on The World is Too Much for Me found their beginnings while Ross and Waitt were working on the score for the film “Not Waving But Drowning” which Waitt wrote and directed. Ross is the songwriter for Challenger and has been writing music for as long as he can remember. Before this record, he had never spent more than twenty minutes writing a song – The World Is Too Much for Me has been over two years in the making. Ross was working as a staff composer at the time, and constantly in a studio. Many of the sounds on the record were inspired by the feeling of late nights looking out at the lights of lower Manhattan. The band considers themselves ‘epic pop’; as if Sigur Ros had written the Macarena. They have drawn comparisons to Peter Gabriel, Haircut 100, Tanlines, Small Black and Paul Simon.
These songs are brand new, but they’ve lived a life within John Ross. In many ways, this album is a new direction, but at its core, these songs are a continuation of the song he’s been writing since he was fifteen.

Praise for The World Is Too Much For Me:

“The loops are brainwashingly good…” – Magnet

“…The World Is Too Much For Me is a wonderfully varied and solid piece of electronica, with a fragile sincerity on tracks like the Fleet Foxes-with-tinnitus ‘Are You Scared Too?’ under threat by the pounding 808s on full-on neon eighties pop numbers like the title track.” – The 405

“Their love of 80′s beats, coldwave synths, and Paul Simon afrobeat tendencies mix with a more recent indie dance pop mentality, and the resulting hyper-manic sound feels as timeless as it does reverent to its influences.” – Beats Per Minute

“While some of it is more upbeat and light, other songs are very slow and desperate. There are even some post rock-like, quiet, Sigur Ros moments and dreamy, M83-ish moments. This is definitely worth a listen. It took two years to create the unique debut album. There’s no lack of complexity and obvious detail and effort in this. It’s a very impressive debut album.” – I Heart Moosiq

Artist:  Challenger
Album: The World Is Too Much For Me
Release Date: November 27, 2012
Label: self-released
01. Age of Apathy
02. Are You Scared Too?
03. I Am Switches
04. To Discourage the Incincere
05. The World is Too Much For Me
06. Don’t Die
07. Life in the Paint
08. Takers
09. How Are My Thoughts Not My Own?
10. Is There a Safe Place We Can Go?
11. Age of Apathy Reprise

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