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Similar to frontman Tim Perry's former band, Pseudosix, Ages and Ages have a pastoral, psychedelic sound, but sunshiny, tent revival-inspired vocal harmonies add a layer of effervescence to the music that can combat even the grayest days in the Pacific Northwest. After the group made their full-length debut with 2011's Alright You Restless, albums like 2016's Something to Ruin and 2019's Me You They We retained an uplifting tenor while reflecting economic and sociopolitical unease.
When his band Pseudosix broke up, Tim Perry found himself disheartened by what he saw as apathy in the Portland music scene. As a response to the disaffected crowds he faced, he set out to create a band that would work as earnestly as possible to get out there and try to move people, and in 2008 he formed Ages and Ages. Recruiting a crew of multi-instrumentalists who included former Pseudosix side player Kate O’Brien-Clarke as well as Rob Oberdorfer, John McDonald, Graham Mackenzie, Daniel Hunt, and Lisa Stringfield, Perry assembled a team who would not only be able to realize his intricate instrumental arrangements, but also pull off big vocal harmonies. The band eventually signed on with Knitting Factory and began work on their debut with producer Kevin Robinson. The result was the album Alright You Restless, which arrived in early 2011. It was followed by a U.S. tour and appearances at the SXSW festival in Texas.
Their budding progress was interrupted after a string of tragedies affected the collective. They also underwent dramatic lineup changes, with Becca Schultz and Annie Bethancourt joining, while O'Brien-Clarke, Stringfield, Hunt, and others departed. The rejiggered Ages and Ages entered the studio with producer Tony Lash (Elliott Smith, the Dandy Warhols) in 2013 to record their sophomore album, 2014's Divisionary, which marked a move to Partisan Records. Sticking with their radiant sound, it landed them on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums and Next Big Sound charts.
With a backdrop of gentrification and exploding real estate prices in their part of the world (and elsewhere), Something to Ruin followed in 2016. It was recorded at Isaac Brock's Ice Cream Party studio in Portland, and the Modest Mouse frontman leant vocals to the track "So Hazy." Reflecting the growing sociopolitical tensions of the time, their next album, Me You They We, arrived via Needle & Thread Entertainment in 2019. While the band's lineup continued to shift, it featured core members Perry and Oberdorfer as well as returning percussionist/backup singers Bethancourt and Sarah Riddle. ~ Gregory Heaney & Marcy Donelson, Rovi
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