Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 16:26:34 -0400 
      From: Gregory Lawrence Smith
      (gt7003b@PRISM.GATECH.EDU) 
      Subject: Re: Ivo and TooPure/Scheer Site - Seely

              96 02:13:48 pm

> Today I got an advance copy of "Julie Only", the new release by TooPure's
> latest signing, Seely.  I've only listened to the first three songs so far
> and it's quite good.

I just want to reiterate that Seely is a really great band and "Julie Only"
will officially be released sometime in October.  And as mentioned before,
it was recorded in Chicago with the guy (the name escapes me right now)
from Tortoise.  Though this new CD contains many of the same songs as
their locally released CD "Parentha See", everything has been re-recorded
for their first Too Pure release, and there are also several new songs.
Check it out.

> But on the letter that we enclosed with the cd I
> found something interesting.  At the bottom it says: "Too Pure U.S.,
> Directors: P.A.Cox  M.C.Millis  R.J.Roberts I.Watts Russell" .  I assume
> that this is Ivo Watts Russell (this was not a tough conclusion), but it
> is the first time that I have ever heard/seen his name in association with
> TooPure.  Can someone enlighten me as to the nature of this relationship.

I'll have to check with my friend Lori (the guitarist in Seely).  I know
she specifically mentioned his name when negotiations were going on, and I
got the impression that he was definitely heavily involved in Too Pure -
that is, it made a difference that he liked their demo tape.

-greg


      Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 10:00:15 -0700 
      From: Jens Alfke (jens@APPLE.COM) 
      Subject: Seely -- yesyesyes


Now, this is the way the universe is supposed to work! Last week I ask
for info about what new-Too-Pure-signing Seely sound like. Friday I come
home from work to find a promo copy of their new CD in the mailbox.
Reminder to all label reps on the list: I'll be expecting this to be the
way things work on. I'll be expecting Alison's Halo, Scala and that new
Swirlies album to show up this week, OK?
Seriously, thanks to Too Pure and their online dude here [dang! I've
forgotten your name, sorry!] for being so nice to us.

Oh yes -- what do Seely sound like? If I'd been clever I'd've brought in
the bio that came along with the CD and typed it in, because alone among
band bios that I've read it's actually interesting and describes the
music quite well. But.

Seely are interesting, in a subtle way. Much of the music I like
initially strikes me as very weird and it takes several listenings for it
to make sense. Seely are the other way around -- on first listening I
loved the album simply for the sounds and melodies, and on further
listenings noticed the oddities of the vocal harmonies and
instrumentation.
  Seely pull off the difficult task of making rock music that's neither
pop nor noise. The sound is fairly quiet and for instance the guitars are
mostly pretty effect-free, and the sound is pretty and the boy/girl vocal
harmonies are gorgeous. But the mood isn't happy and bouncy so much as
dreamy -- this is clearly shoegazer music but without the cliches of the
genre. The spaciness isn't derived from oceans of guitar fuzz or chorus,
it comes from the structures of the songs and the singing.
  Comparisons? Some of the singing reminds me of the Swirlies. Some of
the sweetness reminds me of early MBV, only not so sugary. And while
Seely don't really sound like Throwing Muses in any direct way, their odd
uses of guitar lines and the way the songs change partway through reminds
me in a very good way of the Muses' first album.

I have a meeting to go to so I'll cut this short. I'm really impressed
with this album, it has a lot of intricacy to it and it grows on me with
every listening. It's scheduled to be released in about two weeks, so go
for it...