Zookeeper

Trackimage Playbut Trackname Playbut Trackname
snow in berlin 00:00 Tools
Trumpets 00:00 Tools
I Live in the Mess You Are 00:00 Tools
Ballad of My Friends 00:00 Tools
Tax Collector 00:00 Tools
On Madison Way 00:00 Tools
Everyone's A DJ 00:00 Tools
Delivery Room 00:00 Tools
Boy & The Street Choir 00:00 Tools
Becoming All Things 00:00 Tools
Al Kooper's Party Horn 00:00 Tools
Flood of Love 00:00 Tools
On High 00:00 Tools
Born With Things To Do 00:00 Tools
Two-Part Invention 00:00 Tools
Pink Chalk 00:00 Tools
Conclusions 00:00 Tools
Universe Song 00:00 Tools
Beam With Us 00:00 Tools
Samsara 00:00 Tools
I Never Knew 00:00 Tools
When I Had My Legs 00:00 Tools
Dark Road 00:00 Tools
Ain't Playing 00:00 Tools
Bloodhounds 00:00 Tools
Two Part Invention 00:00 Tools
The Death Pause 00:00 Tools
Rosemarie, Etc. 00:00 Tools
Empty Graves (Live) 00:00 Tools
Boy Street Choir (Live at KVRX) 00:00 Tools
Modern Living (Live at KVRX) 00:00 Tools
Snow in Berlin (Live at KVRX) 00:00 Tools
Trumpets (Live at KVRX) 00:00 Tools
Royalties (live in the MOKB/91.7 WEEM studio 12/5/07) 00:00 Tools
mama jean 00:00 Tools
Zookeeper - Snow In Berlin 05:50 Tools
Death Pause 00:00 Tools
empty graves 00:00 Tools
Everyone's A DJ (live in the MOKB/91.7 WEEM studio 12/5/07) 00:00 Tools
Zookeeper - Trumpets 00:00 Tools
Meet The Kid (live in the MOKB/91.7 WEEM studio 12/5/07) 00:00 Tools
mary of the morning 00:00 Tools
Modern Living 00:00 Tools
Hey Boxer/Kid Gloves 00:00 Tools
Royalties 00:00 Tools
Rosemary, Etc. 00:00 Tools
Meet the Kid 00:00 Tools
Automatic Certain Agreement 00:00 Tools
Boy Street Choir 00:00 Tools
Boy and the Street 00:00 Tools
Empty Graves Live 00:00 Tools
Frosted Glass 00:00 Tools
Empty Graves (Live at KVRX) 00:00 Tools
Everyones a DJ 00:00 Tools
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Sometimes, taking a break can be a very good thing. Chris Simpson, former songwriter and frontman for two influential late '90s bands, knows a few things about breaking up. After disbanding post-punk emo progenitor Mineral just after the band signed to a major, and taking an indefinite hiatus from shoegazer follow-up The Gloria Record midway through recording a fourth record, he virtually disappeared from the music scene for two years. It is this quiet period of Simpson's career that has proven his most prolific to date. It allowed him time to step back, regroup, and remember what he loved about music in the first place - penning songs and performing acoustically, just as he had done as a teenager in his hometown of Denver. He bought and became enchanted with a piano. He dusted off record albums he hadn't listened to in a decade. He found himself, for the first time in years, brimming with ideas and melodies. Newly inspired, he resumed songwriting, laying the groundwork for a fresh sound that would grow organically out of an informal gathering of new and old friends making music they loved. Eventually the group packed into an Austin studio to record live: loose, impromptu songs replete with shaking tambourines, exuberant horns, honky-tonk keys, and, at alternating turns, lyrical depth and whimsy. They recorded, in part or whole, spanning several months and several studios, over 40 songs. Simpson had fallen in love with music again, simply by stepping away from it. The new body of work - the recently released Zookeeper EP and this scintillating debut LP, Becoming All Things (Belle City Pop!) - boasts a supporting cast of musicians comprised of former Mineral and Gloria Record members and new collaborators (indie-folk artist Alex Dupree, Sad Accordions, and Zykos), and brings Simpson back to his roots. It is this self-possession gained from solitude, this tipping of the hat to where he's been while moving assuredly forward, that gives Simpson's latest offering its buoyant, timeless appeal. As Lollipop.com recently declared of Zookeeper, "It wouldn't be too far off to call this classic rock done in the 21st Century, with the barnyard drums and Heartland chords … A promising restart for a gifted songwriter, definitely hints at great things to come." Chris has since changed the name of his solo project to Mountain Time. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.