We Live On Cliffs
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''We Live on Cliffs'' is the debut studio album by singer/songwriter Adam Stephens, vocalist and guitar player for
San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
's
folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
guitar/drum duo Two Gallants. ''We Live on Cliffs'' was released on September 28, 2010, on
Saddle Creek Records Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over his ...
. The album is credited to "Adam Haworth Stephens" and was produced by
Joe Chiccarelli Joe Chiccarelli is an American record producer, mixer and engineer, who is a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and has been active since the 1980s. He has produced albums by Julieta Venegas, Jason Mraz, Morrissey, Oingo Boingo, Spoon, Young the Gi ...
.


Background

Two Gallants had been touring almost non-stop for six years, since forming in 2002 until taking a hiatus starting in the summer of 2008. During that time the duo also recorded and released three full-length albums as well as an album-length EP. The stress of touring with seemingly non-stop van breakdowns, recording sessions, and countless interviews tired the band out both mentally and physically. Stephens and fellow band member Tyson Vogel each decided to focus on other work, with Stephens pursuing a solo album and Vogel collaborating with some string players on an instrumental project called Devotionals.


Critical reception

''We Live on Cliffs'' received mixed reviews from critics. Jessie Cataldo of ''
Slant Slant can refer to: Bias *Bias or other non- objectivity in journalism, politics, academia or other fields Technical * Slant range, in telecommunications, the line-of-sight distance between two points which are not at the same level * Slant ...
'' criticized the album as being formulaic, stating, "The focus here is crystalline, immaculately styled country—slow, pretty songs fleshed out by female backing vocals. At worst, it’s an album full of half-cocked
Ryan Adams David Ryan Adams (born November 5, 1974) is an American Rock music, rock and Country music, country singer-songwriter. He has released 30 studio albums and three as a former member of Whiskeytown. In 2000, Adams left Whiskeytown and released ...
impressions, digging into an antiseptic style that sounds cheesy even when Adams attempts it." Cataldo as well as Alex Henderson of ''
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
'' and a review at ''Sputnikmusic'' all discussion the album as attempting to sound Dylan-esque, and failing to live up to such a high standard for
Americana music Americana (also known as American roots music) is an amalgam of Music of the United States, American music formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the musical ethos of the United States of America, with particul ...
. Despite the criticism, Cataldo and Henderson did make note of Stephens' potential as a songwriter and solo artist.


Track listing


References

{{Authority control Saddle Creek Records albums Albums produced by Joe Chiccarelli