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Radio Lark recaptures a moment with new album
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
Chris Rutushin is quick to share the credit for “Stolen Oranges,” the new album from his band, Radio Lark.
He surrounded himself with experienced musicians and singers in both writing and recording.
“I think my greatest skill is finding the right people to collaborate with,” said Rutushin. “I see the potential in people and hope that it rubs off on me, makes me a better musician.”
An impressive amount of experience was brought together for the recording sessions, a cross section of some of the area’s best bands of the past and present.
Performing on the album are Nathanael Welch (formerly of the Devotees), Rick Deak (Sin-O-Matic), Dave Lynn (Dr. Freshbutter, Alex Hall’s Figurehead), Patrick Majernik, Eddie Davis and Scott Burns, with vocals and instrumental input from Shiloh Hawkins, Jackie Popovec, Demos Papadimas, Khaled Tabbara, Lake Baum, Lex Calder and Chris Leonardi, among others. It was engineered and recorded by Pete Drivere.
The 10 songs on “Stolen Oranges” are, by turns, upbeat and reflective. Rutushin wrote six of the songs, and collaborated as lyricist on most of the others.
Radio Lark will unveil the album at a release party Saturday at Cedar’s West End in Youngstown, with opening act Jonti Trot of Pittsburgh.
“Stolen Oranges” builds on the indie-Americana style that started with the band’s 2012 debut, “The Firefly Sessions.” Like a fine summer day, it starts on a sunny note, becomes introspective, and finishes with a satisfying mellow groove.
Sonically, the band appears to have hit its stride, but Rutushin sees it as just a moment in time, and not necessarily a sound that it will project onto future releases.
“I’m never going to pigeonhole myself,” he said.
While the new album is a cohesive collection, Rutushin pointed out that it has variety within its parameters. “It gets weird, too,” he said, referring to the strange and self-indulgent “Hovedbanegarden,” which superimposes some trippy poetry over the ambient sounds of a European train station.
“I don’t want it to be all the same,” Rutusin continued. “I like the variety, the extremes. Life is not just one thing. It’s not so perfectly balanced.”
Like “Hovedbanegarden,” the title cut and a reprise of it titled “Stolen Oranges [When In Rome]” were inspired by Rutushin’s travels through Europe.
“Stolen Oranges” arose from a magical day in the Eternal City that he spent with a fellow female traveler. It included pilfering some citrus fruit from a garden and then hastily fleeing an inquiring Roman policeman. “The oranges were terrible, but we got a good story out of it,” he said.
A video for the song was released Wednesday on YouTube.
Europe also had its down moments for Rutushin.
“Hovedbanegarden” is a flashback to a stopover at Copenhagen station. “I wrote a poem there on a day when I was totally strung out – hadn’t slept much. I was delayed between stations. But it’s a metaphor for life, and it serves as an intro for the following song, ‘Passenger.’”
Lyrically, the songs on the album are thoughtful but not open-ended.
“I want there to be resolution, to end on a good note, with hope,” said Rutushin. “That’s all you really have at the end of the day.”