In one of the regions of the United States of America in Livonia (Michigan), one of the brightest representatives of shoegaze, folk, R&B and pop music, His Name Is Alive, began its career.
In the early 1990s, it was she who defined the sound and development of the indie label 4AD with albums such as Home Is in Your Head and Mouth by Mouth.
The ever-changing line-up of the band kept changing the sound as well. Warren Defever and his team explored bright, sunny pop. In particular, this is associated with the 1996 album Stars, as well as the work of R&B (2001) Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth.
In the 2000s, they combined their music with African and Asian influences on the 2007 album Xmmer.
His Name Is Alive reached its greatest success during the 2010s, combining heavy metal sound with beautiful clean vocals on the concept albums Tecuciztecatl (2014) and Patterns of Light (2016).
The first recordings of the group His Name Is Alive
Multi-instrumentalist and producer Warren Defever began making music at an early age. By the age of 10, he had learned to record the sounds of wildlife.
He also used his brother's record collection to create short pieces, which included playing the piano and guitar.
He began using the alias His Name Is Alive in 1985 while still in school. Taking the name for his musical project from history notes, he recorded the first four tracks in an old basement with vocalist Angie Carozzo.
While in college, Defever met singer Karin Oliver, who, along with drummer Demian Leng, joined the group's first line-up.
The trio self-released several cassettes for Riotousness, Postrophe and I Had Sex with God. Defever sent these works to the founder of the 4AD label, Ivo Watts-Russell. In 1989, he decided to sign a contract with a new group.
Watts-Russell and John Fryer of This Mortal Coil remixed the band's recordings, resulting in their first full-length album, Livonia (1990). The team demonstrated the presence of beautiful vocals, interesting lyrics and unusual sounding guitars.
The following year, members of Home Is in Your Head expanded His Name Is Alive to include singers Denise James, Karen Neal and Melissa Elliott, as well as guitarist Jymn Auge.
The band's sound has also changed. Now, instead of ballads on acoustic guitars, the band performed sampled tracks and used electric guitars.
The track Sitting Still Moving Still Staring Out looking was featured on the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire (1996).
In 1992, His Name Is Alive released the EP Dirt Eaters, which has been called Defever's most rock-oriented work. The band's sound began to expand with the release of 1993's King of Sweet and Mouth by Mouth.
The first album was a limited edition mix of samples, demos and previously unreleased songs, while the second was pop-oriented due to 1960s reggae, jazz and pop inspiration.
As a result, Mouth by Mouth has been called the band's most diverse album in terms of style. Around this time, Lang left the band and new drummer Trey Many replaced him.
Other projects of His Name Is Alive
As Defever's reputation as an innovative producer grew, he shared his experience and knowledge with bands such as Grenadine, a project of Tsunami's Jenny Toomey and Unrest's Mark Robinson.
Defever also helped other bands, such as Liquorice (who recorded songs on the same label as Defever) and Tarnation.
Defever continued to make records: Robot World and Control Panel. He also founded the art collective Time Stereo with childhood friend, artist and musician Devin Brainard.
Some of Time Stereo's projects included films, coloring books, and cassette-only releases. They have worked with many other bands: Princess Dragon Mom, Crash, Godzuki, New Grape and Noise Camp.
Variety of the group's releases
Defever's varied interests influenced the band's next release, His Name Is Alive Starson ESP (1996). It features songs recorded with Matthew Smith of the Outrageous Cherry and Mark Kozelek of the Red House Painters. The sound was a combination of pop folk and dub.
The following year, the musicians released the Nice Day EP, which Defever was inspired by 1960s rock and R&B. The album featured Lovett Pippen and some other artists from Starson ESP.
Pippen worked twice with the group His Name Is Alive on the album Fort Lake (1998). The work was also recorded with new producer Steve King.
He is also a native of Livonia and has previously worked with the band Funkadelic and Aretha Franklin. His talent combined perfectly with funk, soul and classic art rock.
During this time, Pippen, bassist Chad Gilchrist, and additional drummer Scott Goldstein joined the band full-time.
After the release of Always Stay Sweet in 1999, His Name Is Alive became a duo consisting of Defever and Pippen, the pair released two R&B albums: Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth (2001) and the dark work Last Night (2002). ). The album Last Night was the band's last work on the 4AD label.
However, the duo found other ways to promote their music, with Time Stereo releasing several CDs such as the ten-disc compilation Cloud Box (2004), Leaf Club, Brown Rice and The Detroit River.
In 2005, Ypsilanti Records released the full-length CD-R SummerBird and several tracks from the release appeared on UFO Catcher, a limited LP released by German label En/Of.
New motives of the group His Name Is Alive
In late 2005, His Name Is Alive released the Raindrops Rainbow EP as a teaser for Detrola. The album updated the band's classic pop sound and featured vocalist Andrea Francesca Morici (Andy FM).
Two years later, the band incorporated African and Asian influences into their next full-length album, Xmmer. In 2007, the album Sweet Earth Flower appeared.
In 2010, the band released a limited edition of 10 discs of rare, live and experimental songs. Among the discs was the album The Eclipse, which was later released separately.
Return of the group to the record
The band returned in 2014 with the highly acclaimed album Tecuciztecat, a rock opera influenced by prog rock and pop Bubblegum.
The musicians developed this hard psycho-pop sound with Patterns of Light (2016). The inspiration for the team came after a trip to the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.
The limited edition digital version of the album included Black Wings, a collection of demos, remixes and cover art.
The band also released a series of archival releases in 2019 called All The Mirrors in the House (early recordings 1979-1986).
