The Eastern Sea is an

Indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band from

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

that originally started as a bedroom project by singer Matthew Hines and eventually morphed into a band. They have released two original full length albums and a full length Christmas album.

Beginnings

Created in 2005 as the bedroom project of songwriter/vocalist Matthew Hines. From 2007-2009 the band added several new members and recorded what would eventually become ''The Eastern Sea'', a self-released collection of two eponymous EPs. Songs such as “The Snow” and “The Name” attracted the band’s first national press and led to several festival appearances. Originally The Eastern Sea consisted of revolving cast of musicians from Austin who joined the band whenever they had spare time similar to the

Broken Social Scene Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band and musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed by Kevin Drew (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Canning (vocals, bass) in 1999. Alongside Drew and Canning, the ...

. Eventually the band focused on creating a more consistent lineup but still feature regular guests and contributors. Many members of the band are alumni of

Saint Edward's University St. Edward's University is a private university, private, Catholic university in Austin, Texas, United States. It was founded and is operated in the Congregation of Holy Cross, Holy Cross tradition. History Founding and early history St. Edwar ...

Albums

''The Eastern Sea'' (debut album)

Originally created and released as two separate EPs, recorded and mixed by Adam Shell and Jess Hill at Good Citizen Recording in Austin, TX, (EP I and EP II) but would eventually be packaged together as one album. This album was re-released in late 2011.

''Plague''

Starting in 2010, The Eastern Sea began work on their first official LP, ''Plague''. ''Plague'' was recorded live to tape by Matt Smith (

Ola Podrida Ola Podrida is an Austin, Texas indie rock band. They are led by film composer David Wingo. The band has released three albums, which have received favorable reviews in publications such as Pitchfork Media, ''Spin'', ''Paste'', and AllMusic ...

, Golden Bear) at HOTTRACKS!!! in

. During the recording the long-running East Austin studio, as the complex that housed HOTTRACKS!!! was condemned by the city only a month into production. The Eastern Sea was then forced to finish Plague in between temporary studios and homes across Central Texas battling several other issues including a major fire. The band has often said by naming the record ''Plague,'' it was doomed to failure. Despite the numerous setbacks, the completed ''Plague'' (WhiteLabBlackLab), mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering (

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Vernon had originally formed Bon Iver as a solo project, but it eventually became a band consisting of Vernon (vocals, guit ...

Andrew Bird Andrew Wegman Bird (born July 11, 1973) is an American indie rock multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Since 1996, he has released 16 studio albums, as well as several live albums and EPs, spanning various genres including swing musi ...

) was released on June 26, 2012. Eventually the album would become highly critically acclaimed and win several end of year honors including; #1 album of the year (OVRLD), and #13 best album of the year (The Wild Honey Pie).

''First Christmas''

In summer 2012, after the release of ''Plague'' the band recorded a full length Christmas album engineered and co-produced by Louie Lino. The album includes 10 covers and 2 original songs "This is Christmas" and "First Christmas". It was released on the band's label ''WhitelabBlacklab'' on November 27, 2012.

''The Witness''

''The Witness'' was released November 13, 2015.

Festivals

In support of ''Plague'', The Eastern Sea spent 2012 playing several festivals including

Austin City Limits Festival Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas, on two consecutive three-day weekends and is inspired by the KLRU/PBS music series ''Austin City Limits''. The festival is prod ...

, Houston Free Press Summer Festival, Index Festival and

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

among others. In addition to festival appearances, they performed at several large outdoor concerts including

KGSR KGSR (93.3 FM broadcasting, FM, "Vibe 93.3") is a radio station city of license, licensed to Cedar Park, Texas, and serving the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area. Owned by Sinclair Telecable Inc. d/b/a Waterloo Media Group, it broadcasts a rh ...

's annual ''Blues on the Green'' in front of over 8,000 people.

Discography

* ''EP 1'' (No Longer in Print) (2008) * ''EP 2'' (No Longer in Print) (2010) * ''The Eastern Sea'' (2011) * ''Plague'' (2012) * ''First Christmas'' (2012) * ''The Witness'' (2015)

References

External links

Official band website

Official Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eastern Sea, The Indie rock musical groups from Texas Musical groups established in 2005 Musical groups from Austin, Texas 2005 establishments in Texas