another great review!! Thanks!!!

Out of Athens, GA, a city that’s produced many great musicians in the past, comes yet another band whose music is definitely well-worth a listen. Efren, whose new EP was released this past August, pleases from the second you press play. Always Been A Bleeder is a seamless combination of influences: some tracks vibrate with psychedelic and fairly experimental folk while others have distinct country and rock roots.

As a five-track release, the music is alternatively celebratory and brooding, the first four tracks consistently switching between jaunty folk rock romps (“Potholes”) and dwelling, reflective tracks (“Next Tuesday”). “Rapids,” the closing track, follows the tradition of sounding more like something experimental that the band enjoyed recording instead of a polished track. It’s a nine-minute outlier that starts with chaotic and dissonant mixture of guitar plucks, twangs, wails and warbles, bells, and the occasional cymbal crash until two minutes in, Scott Leon O’Day’s dry voice joins in and the song metamorphoses into something gentler and more melodic. While Always Been A Bleeder clearly has the influence of older folk, their music is also distinctly contemporary. At times they sound like a more youthful and energized Tallest Man On Earth, and as advertised by the band, many of the tracks should be well-received by fans of Iron & Wine (particularly if you enjoyed Beam’s sound on The Shepard’s Dog).

The vocals are, in the tradition of many folk-singers past and present, dry and raspy, often more mumbles than articulate words, but they never grate. Lyrically, Efren stays introspective while avoiding self-indulgence, which leaves their music more free-spirited than heavy. Track for track, they engage from the get-go, and their sound only grows more and more enjoyable with each succeeding listen. While none of the tracks stand out as singles, Always Been A Bleeder lays down an outstanding outline for a future LP.

www.adequacy.net
September 15th, 2010 by Emily Graham


Thanks alot!!!

YIPEE! New release and big shows this weeks and live set for free!!

wow.
i like playing music

first

Today is the official worldwide release of our new ep 'Always Been a Bleeder'
get it here
www.efrenmusic.com
or now on itunes!!
yes!!

next

FREE DOWNLOAD OF NEW LIVE SET! free to be live, vol. 1
or just stream it

and FINALLY!

THE BIG SHOW!!!!!! to celebrate the Worldwide release of our EP!!!!



Hope yall are well
and hoping we will see ya FRIDAY AT LITTLE KINGS

What Album Are You Most Looking Forward To Next Week?

What Album Are You Most Looking Forward To Next Week?

PLEASE GO AND VOTE FOR 'ALWAYS BEEN A BLEEDER' BY US efren.

thanks
proud of you!!

super sweet sickness!

We are on the Team Clermont with our new EP Always Been a Bleeder!
POW! link^^^



Efren is a folk group hinting on the psychedelic, from areas around Athens, GA. Reaching out into the musical world with introspective lyrics and brooding energy, Efren has composed an EP of new broken heart strung songs and stories. Bleeding on the stage with over 45 shows in 10 months, learning who you are and finding the comfortably challenging sound, Efren is searching for the right vehicle of song expression.

Five songs, one fighting the frustrations, one hoping for potential, one battling demons, one winning, and finally the long epic surrender. Recorded in the spring of 2010 with Dave Sturgis at The Stewdio in Athens, GA Always Been A Bleeder is a proud installment in the young project Efren.

Always Been A Bleeder comes hot off the heels of the band’s debut album, Thunder & Moan. Both of the recordings are hard and quiet, while the live show invigorates the music and delves deeper into the compositions, exploring the sonic textures. Learning the rules of the stage in a songwriter’s realm has deepened and expanded the palette of the group’s compositions.

Efren is the songwriting vehicle of one Scott Leon-O’Day. But there are four men making this meal; with roots in jazz, blues, folk, bluegrass and rock. Efren touches on Southern Americana music, draws from indie lo-fi ideas, and respects the multitudes of great songwriters of our past. Lyrically driven, but emotionally wandering. Stories of trying to lose love, dreams of family past, tall boys, gambling, and whiskey stills…