Two Fields Over

Grains of Verse

Self-released

30 August 2024

FOR FANS OF: Iron and Wine, Trash Can Sinatras, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Kings of Convenience, Great Lake Swimmers, Dry the River, The Head and the Heart, Avett Brothers

LOS ANGELES, CA and CHICAGO, IL: TWO FIELDS OVER presents debut album Grains of Verse. Featuring two childhood friends — noted multi-instrumentalist Jared Matt Greenberg (The Paper Sea, The Rosemarys, Charles Atlas, Whale Fall) and vocalist and musician Christopher Travis — Two Fields Over blends a poignant indie folk/rock vibe with masterful lyrics to create a uniquely resonant album.

They met at age seven on a dusty elementary school playground near Albuquerque, New Mexico. As children, Greenberg and Travis would ride their bikes to meet at the peach grove that lay equidistant from their homes — “two fields over” for each of them. Decades later, they’ve come together to produce twelve songs that speak of the past, present and future. The music ranges from ‘90’s-era indie rock (“Anthropocene”) to modern folk revival (“Looking at a Photo of My Father on Stage”) to folk with Latin influences (“Paula”), dressed with flourishes of Travis’ saxophone and Greenberg’s signature trumpet.

Greenberg’s past musical career is audible on Grains of Verse. Keyboardist and founding member of early ’90s San Francisco shoegaze band The Rosemarys and core member of the instrumental group Charles Atlas, he has played with John Vanderslice, Primitive Painters, Dart, Sutro, An American Starlet, Carta, and others. Since 2011, Greenberg has garnered critical acclaim for his cornet and keyboard work as part of Los Angeles post-rock quintet Whale Fall (A Closer Listen, Echoes & Dust, Spectrum Culture) and for his solo project The Paper Sea (Idioteq, We Write About Music, Echoes and Dust).

Travis, a poet and literature professor, crafted the lyrics. The songs grapple with serious topics, from environmental concerns and the ephemeral nature of human existence (“Anthropocene”) to seeing loved ones struggle with mental illness (“On Leaving”) or cancer (“Corporeal”). But the album also celebrates relationships (“We Have,” “The Peach Fields”) and the power of a sentient Nature, whose “language was a song long before our time” (“Rainy Lake”). The album also speaks to the often abstract nature of poetry and to the possibilities and limits of verbal expression (“Beyond the Literal”, “In Simile of the Wind”). 

Travis and Greenberg live over 1500 miles apart, so the album was initially a remote effort, with Travis recording at home near Chicago and Greenberg in Los Angeles. But they soon met up at Greenberg’s Feathering Heights studio, where they spent four intensive days recording together. Back home again, the two resumed their remote work to complete the album. Travis wrote some of the songs; for others, Greenberg sent compositions he’d created over the years and Travis added melodies and lyrics, often adapting his existing poems. Greenberg describes his delight at seeing unfinished instrumental pieces take on new life in songs such as “The Peach Fields” and “Anthropocene”: “I knew some of these compositions would work better with vocals. It’s been such a thrill to see them go from musical sketches to fully developed songs with lyrics and harmonies.” 

Grains of Verse finds Travis exploring some deeply personal ground. About “Looking at a Photo of My Father on Stage,” he shares, “My father, who passed away in 2018, was a theater professor before I really got to know him well, and as his marriage to my mother was coming to an end. That world felt very foreign to me, and yet we are both artists in our own ways. Perhaps finding an old black-and-white photo of him rehearsing a play created a sense of nostalgia and connection.” The music supporting these private glimpses is innovative, taking unexpected turns, as do the lyrics, befitting Travis’ belief that “poetry should create unique combinations that will challenge readers and listeners.” As Travis sings, there is “no pattern, no code,” when “the sun will wash the script beyond our reach.”

Two Fields Over

Grains of Verse

Label: self-released

Release Date: 30 August 2024

 FCC clean

FOR SHARING

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl8FnMTA_3wgRZUJkZKqzwg 

Bandcamp: https://twofieldsover.bandcamp.com 

Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/xGsT4v321JZyCG2W9 

Website: https://www.twofieldsover.com

FOR REVIEW & AIRPLAY

Private full stream: https://on.soundcloud.com/xGsT4v321JZyCG2W9 

Download via Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yA9YdQ0ttxYzKLzxgfKYY7ye3b6GFS4f 

Press contact: twofieldsover@gmail.com

SOCIAL

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twofieldsover/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl8FnMTA_3wgRZUJkZKqzwg

PEOPLE ARE SAYING:

Their layered harmonies and vividly thoughtful lyrics infuse the album with a distinct voice and profound emotional depth, showing a rare sincerity and artistry that many seasoned musicians aspire to. Together, Greenberg and Travis have created an album that lingers, inviting you to get lost in its beautiful, reflective spaces.

— Orca Sound

“[D]elicate vocals and emotive arrangement create a profound listening experience, showcasing the band's ability to intertwine nostalgic influences with modern sensibilities.”

— Last Day Deaf

“[B]eautifully poetic folk music.” — ALT77

CREDITS:

Composed and performed by Christopher Travis and Jared Matt Greenberg

All instruments arranged and performed by Jared Matt Greenberg, except saxophone on “We Have” and “Corporeal” by Christopher Travis, classical guitar on “Paula” by Christopher Travis, mandolin and acoustic guitar on “Looking at a Photo of My Father on Stage” by Peter Weldon, and cajón on “Paula” by Philip Handmaker

Mixing engineering by Jared Matt Greenberg

Produced by Two Fields Over

Recorded by Jared Matt Greenberg and Christopher Travis except:

• Vocal recording on “Anthropocene” and “Moment to Breathe” by Ben Sherer
• Drum recording on “Moment to Breathe” by Todd Herfindal, Sun Studio, Los Angeles

Mastered by Damien Rasmussen for smokeandmirrorsaudio, San Francisco, California

Cover artwork by Mike Trujillo © 2024

Design/layout by Jared Matt Greenberg

All tracks © & ℗ 2024 by Jared Matt Greenberg and Christopher M. Travis. All rights reserved.

TRACK LIST:

1.     Anthropocene **

2.     Looking at a Photo of My Father on Stage **

3.     We Have

4.     On Leaving

5.     Beyond the Literal

6.     Rainy Lake

7.     Paula

8.     Corporeal

9.     His Eyes Rain

10.  Moment To Breathe

11.  The Peach Fields

12.  In Simile of the Wind

** Initial singles