Similar Artists Slowdive : Talk Talk : Slint : Mogwai : Bark Psychosis : Godspeed, You Black Emporer! : Tortoise : Can : Sonic Youth : Rachel's : My Bloody Valentine : Ennio Morricone : Philip Glass : Holtz : Eno

Artist History It happened in December 2000, in Livonia, MI, when guitarists Brian McFarlane and Jordan Schietinger set their sights on a musical collaboration during their senior year of high school. Shortly, thereafter, drummer Jason Caminsky, a longtime musical companion and childhood friend of McFarlane's, joined the guitar duo. The group debuted live at a local high school talent show in January 2001 under the name Gray Eyes Beside The Seine. After this concert, the group acquired bassist Graham Kovich and violinist Zachary Storey. By the summer of 2001, RJ Smulsky, who the group met in a local record store, had relieved Kovich on the bass. This substitution took place just days before the group embarked upon a short string of live performances throughout Michigan, playing under the name An American Valley. After an extended hiatus and following the departure of violinist Storey, the band returned to the stage with renewed energy as Summersault in the summer of 2002. In June 2002, the group took their first trip to the studio and returned with their debut LP, Resemblances. The album was recorded by Scott Allen of Red Shirt Brigade, who has since joined Summersault as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. The band self-released a limited 100 copies of Resemblances before the record caught the attention of Suburban Sprawl Music, who has opted to release Resemblances in November 2002. The quintet now occupy the cities of Ann Arbor, Livonia, Northville, and Ypsilanti.

Instruments Vocals, Guitars, Drums, Pianos, Keyboards, Computers, Violas, Cellos, Bells, Marimba...

Albums Resemblances, Shape of the Sky (unreleased)

Press Reviews "The best show I saw this weekend was actually Saturday night. A festival of Detroit indie bands called Summersmash took place over the weekend at all the hip D-town hangouts. Summersault, a five piece space/post/great rock band, played at C-Pop, a pretty little art gallery with a lovely hardwood floor playing space on its second floor. Summersault are primarily instrumental, with vocals sparingly used for textural purposes, and they are not afraid to bust out the xylophone, piano, and even egg shake. Mogwai, Bark Psychosis, Talk Talk, and Elbow are all musical reference point, but smoldering secret aggressiveness. Their 30-minute four song set included three of the best songs from their debut cd, Resemblances, plus one new song. Summersault can rock balls out and jump around stage like animals and then tone it down and completely blow you away with how pretty their music ultimately is. Always full of soul, never manipulating sound for sound's sake, Summersault are incredibly talented: musicians switch instruments like mad, even between songs, and it's obvious that they are working toward something a little higher than the latest [insert popular indie hype band here]. What I wrote earlier about the space between sounds that Talk Talk created in their later albums definitely applies to Summersault as well and to wonderful effect. I hope things work out for them and more people get exposed to their music because it is moving and rocking at the same time, a combination difficult for most bands to achieve." -Smote Thy Brother http://smotethybrother.blogspot.com/2002_08_01_smotethybrother_archive.html#80102479 "On Summersault's debut album the young band from Michigan use a variety of instruments to created ambient tones made popular by bands such as Godspeed You Black Emperor, Mogwai, and Sigur Ros. The array of instruments include a pinao, viola, violin, double bass, cello, and what sounds to be a harmonica (I'm not sure though). Each of the eight tracks on the LP have their own sound and identity but still stay with the course of the album giving it a nice a soothing sound but still not sounding like it's one big drawn out track like some other bands of the genre. Some of the standout tracks to me are "Silver Days", with it's catchy piano number, "Pastels" for it's use of vocals as an instrument in the way that Sigur Ros did on their latest album ( ), and "Minor Parade" being the heaviest song on the album. Summersault's potential is tremendous. They have only been together since 2000 when two of the members decided to form a band during their high school year. For a debut album this should surely give the band a recognizable name, and give the band an opportunity to further their musical career. I am very impressed with this album and even more impressed with the band and their talent. I would recommend this album to anyone who is a fan of the ambient genre or who is always on the look-out for new bands. If you are neither than you should probably wait for their second album to come out." 8/10 http://www.decoy-online.com/reviews/review.php?id=576

Location Ann Arbor, MI - USA

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