NASHVILLE (September 7, 2021) – Taxiway releases their debut album filled with dream pop, alternative rock, and the flourishes of cosmic Americana on Seven Plates Records on November 5. The songs and atmospheric music that accompanies them, invoke the lonely, unfamiliar world of airports, hotels, offices, and empty city streets, centered by narrators whose lives are in a state of transit.
The album is bookended by songs where the narrators feel unseen, unnoticed, and unappreciated. The characters in these songs aren’t just looking to leave; They want other people to *feel* their absence. The single, “Prime Meridian” revolves around wanderlust with a narrator who dreams of traveling abroad, while his financial status prevents him from doing it on a whim. “Four Star” was partially inspired by the film “Up in the Air.” The narrator travels frequently for his job but learns his company is laying him off and replacing him with the overseas workers he’s been training, so he runs up an enormous hotel room service tab and charges it to his company credit card out of spite.
The songs written early in the pandemic provided an outlet for Taxiway founder, Michael Aurand’s own wanderlust and the absence so many were feeling. He says, “I initially planned to make instrumental music that resembled the songs on my travel playlist, songs to listen to while the plane taxied down the runway, the quiet, tense moment before takeoff. When the pandemic hit, I decided to keep my mind occupied by writing real songs rather than just making instrumental loops. I began missing the thrill of traveling, which brought new significance to the name.”
Aurand initially recorded songs for an EP as a lo-fi bedroom solo pop project in the small apartment he shared with his wife. Since she was studying for the bar exam, he had to find ways to record quietly so he wouldn’t disturb her. Then in late 2020 as playing live again became a possibility, he realized he needed help from additional musicians. He scrapped the EP and enlisted Joseph Jared (bass) and Caila Singleton (drums). In early March 2021, they began working on the debut album at The Bomb Shelter in Nashville. The result is a blanket of lush reverb, pulsing bass riffs, and sparse yet intricate drumming, intended to grab the audience’s attention not by yelling at them but by calmly inviting them in. Aurand says, “I think 2020 left us all with an anxious, simmering intensity that needed to be channeled by turning the volume down, rather than up.
Absence Track Listing
- Nobody’s Watching
- Prime Meridian
- Four Star
- Crasher
- House Upon the Sand
- Sweet Rosalita
- Ten Miles High
- Irish Goodbye
- How to Fake Your Own Death
About Taxiway
Taxiway began as a lo-fi bedroom solo pop project in early 2020. The idea came in late 2019 from a Spotify playlist Taxiway founder Mike Aurand created to listen to while traveling. Aurand says, “My wife Emily and I used to strategically choose which song we’d each listen to while our plane was taking off. It was a sort of ritual for us, the official start of whatever trip we were taking.” The comprised playlist consisted of chill electronica, trip-hop, jazz, and occasional singer/songwriter tunes. In late 2020, the project evolved into a trio with Joseph Jared (bass) and Caila Singleton (drums). They played their first show as a three-piece band at the Springwater Supper Club on July 21, 2021, which also happened to be Aurand’s three-year wedding anniversary.
Tour Dates
Nov 6 – The Cobra, Nashville (Record Release Show)
