:: Animal Hospital ::

MEMORY

Memory is due out on Barge Recordings March 3rd 2009

Animal Hospital is Kevin Micka's one-man musical recording and performance entity. Burying himself in a pile of electronics—shelves of effects, mixing consoles, amps and delay units—Memory is Kevin's latest venture into layered, processed guitar composition. Although composed in this experimental fashion, Memory is a completely realized recording—a beautiful scape of shiny guitar tones, vocal washes, and dramatic build-ups, all of which cohere into a single musical vision.

Memory is about as deliberate a title as you can get, and rightfully so. Recorded in an old bank in west Virginia, an antiquated movie theater lobby, apartments, studios, and Cape Cod, the album’s realization is similar to a personal recollection of the past; a layered, non-linear, and often vague familiarity of places, things, people, known and unknown in our minds.

Fueled by coffee and heartache, Memory serves as a highly personal account of its creator manifested into an amalgamation of musical themes, both delicate and brutal. Most notable about Memory is its intimacy—the emotional thread tying his vast compositional approaches together. As an effort to connect Kevin’s memories with ours and even to engage in one another’s wanderings—psychic exchanges between composer and listener—Kevin searches out raw beauty within his repertoire of sounds.  He performs guitar, drums, vocals, music boxes, and other gadgets with meticulous care; a detail for precision often discarded by experimental recordings.

Listening to Animal Hospital’s recordings, or seeing him live, is a fascinating experience. On one hand, there is inherent urgency for Kevin to bridge his experiences with the listener through one-man musical showmanship. It is the clever song structures though, with enormous dynamic range and emotional variety, which allow this music to translate tactfully. In this way Memory feels complete, satisfying to a person who yearns for a well-sculpted recording.

 

TRACK LISTING

1) Good Times      2) His Belly Burst      3) 2nd Anniversary      4) ...and ever      5)  A Safe Place      6) Nostalgia      7)  Memory
                                                                                                

ABOUT ANIMAL HOSPITAL

Formed at the tail-end of Micka's time with Boston band The Common Cold, Animal Hospital slowly began to take on a life of its own in 2004. A self-titled debut CD by Animal Hospital was released on Boston's Mister Records that year and displayed Micka's ability as a composer and engineer in communicating his creative expression. Since then, Kevin has consistently toured the United States and completed one 3 week European tour throughout France, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland. Within the last 4 years Micka has continued writing and releasing several additional tracks on various compilations around the globe. Animal Hospital has won followers from all corners of the music world, earning himself spots on tours with bands as diverse as Beirut, Neptune, and the tech-grind metal group The Great Redneck Hope (not to mention a recurring role as bumper music on Boston's NPR station). Good or Plenty—a digital release for January 2009.