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Cuba Libre

1 March 2010 406 views No Comment BY Mark Stalcup

Unquestionably, 2008 was a dark year for the members of Cuba, rife with losses both personal and universal, a slow creeping sadness seeping in like the floodwaters that temporarily sank parts of the city that June.

Now, a year and change later, the band’s buoyed up and bounced back, lyrical sorrows reflecting the roughness of that troubled time even as the joyous ranging sprawl of its music demonstrates the rebounding strength of playing at top form.

“Disease in the family, divorce and a surgery, flooding in the backyard and it’s haunting me,” lead singer Jon DaCosta observes on “This Long Year,” a yearning sadness in the repeated lyrics, even as the music propels him along.

“There’s kind of a depressing undertone,” he admits, laughing. “It was a tough time.”

Formed by DaCosta in 2005, the band’s third record is its first as a fivesome on disc, with lead guitarists Jimmy Rinehart and John Murray joined by drummer Michael Coffey and bassist Matt Hulett.

Coffey and Hulett once played in D-Railed, while Murray’s a veteran of Native Mind, whom he still performs with.

“I play with anybody,” he jokes.

Across the record, feelings of loss and survival recur. Some arrive too early, others too late, and a sense of being out of time recurs lyrically. Ties are cut, relationships end with a haircut or anonymous call, and a sense of longing prevails. Forced smiles and airbrushed magazine photos accompany “pages you’ll never read about people you’ll never meet” as DaCosta observes witheringly in “Time Magazines.”

Murray knows that battered feeling the year brought all too well. He began it with a broken arm, unable to play his instrument, solely singing and playing effects onstage instead.

“That was an interesting show,” Rinehart observes wryly.

His once-wounded comrade concurs.

“It was kind of funny, but I looked so sad. That was the show we were playing with suits on, and here I was with this broken arm under mine.”

Yet beneath it all, there’s a sense of dancing over one’s sorrows, the music delivering “upbeat, poppy songs” to counter the lyric’s melancholy strain.

“We have a way of making our songs sound happy, like ones you want to tap your foot to, even though it’s about someone breaking up,” DaCosta admits.

The band’s instinct to soldier on, persevere and thrive in the face of disaster large and small, equal parts haunted and joyous, abides in the new record.

Kicking in with ethereal voices, “It Was Your Ghost” finds DaCosta confronting a spectre, sounding less afraid than happily haunted, as if he’d seen an old friend emerge from the ether.

Even the cover’s a clue to the contradictions contained inside. Photographer Shaun Lowe’s strangely beautiful image of a house in tatters, collapsing unto itself in a slow decline into the ground, tips off a listener early to the mix of joys and sorrow inherent within it.

Partly American pastoral, the cover’s reminiscent of a slightly askew Dr. Seuss landscape, and coupled with photos of an interior that could, on first glimpse, be the abandoned devastation of a disaster or the aftermath of a raucous party.

“When I saw that photo I knew I had to have it,” DaCosta enthuses, his day job as a graphic designer paying dividends.

The sole exit from these sorrows might just be found within oneself, the band’s music suggests, playing on with a sprawling mix of influences ranging from folk to funk, a record where chugging Latin rhythms abide next to yearning acid rock, and at various points, bring to mind Santana, Phish, Death Cab for Cutie, and Foo Fighters.

“It’s definitely hard to categorize,” DaCosta suggests. “I think, if anything, we’re most comfortable sticking ourselves into the genre of indie rock.”

All the members sing, many of them multi-instrumentalists. DaCosta adds piano, violin, and glockenspiel to his guitar work. Both he and Rinehart also play banjo. Rinehart further contributes piano, while he and Murray each play organ, with Murray also adding trumpet. All in all, the musical melange brings a buoyancy to the mix: Their mourning becomes eclectic and electric.

Cuba’s two prior records, “Epilogue” and “Sounds Like a Story” featured smaller line-ups, with DaCosta often joined by an array of guests. On the new record, there’s only a handful: Christina Blust (profiled in December’s issue) and DaCosta’s wife Jessica adds vocals, while Murray’s wife Emily provides “the last bass note” on “Train Wreck.”

It all started small, then grew quickly. What began as an EP slated to contain about four songs gained momentum quickly during studio time at Don Arney’s Quantum Productions in Farmersburg. A Tennessee trek to Nashville’s Sonytree Studios, where band members marveled at sharing the same space where Willie Nelson, Jewel and other stars recorded tracks soon followed.

“It was really inspiring.” Murray says.

Of the Farmersburg cuts, DaCosta’s proudest of “Haircuts and Breakups,” a bouncing, joyful number founded in a sharply contrasting moment: The decision a young woman makes to cut her hair after a relationship falters.

“I read somewhere that after a break-up, some ridiculously high number of women – like 90 percent or so – go out and get a haircut,” DaCosta laughs. “I wanted to try to figure out why.”

Next on the band’s agenda is completing the EP which they originally aimed for with the new full-length CD. “Hell, we’ve already got nearly enough songs for it,” Coffey grins, with Murray adding four songs are already nearly ready, and merely in need of some polish in the studio.

The strength and consistency of their latest release has steeled their conviction that bigger things are ahead. “There’s going to be something in there for everyone. For people, there’s really not taking any risk in buying this CD for anyone,” Murray said. “Everybody who listens to this album can find something to like about it.”

Rinehart agrees, noting the record’s become a mainstay for many already converted to the band’s eclectic approach. “The people I know who have already bought this CD (when it was released in October) say it hasn’t left their CD player yet,” the guitarist says, his proud grin evident. “They punched it in, and they haven’t taken it out.” Digital selling’s also been a boon for the band, especially since making the switch from ITunes and Amazon to digstation.com. While the former two sites took 40 percent of sales, their new venue allows them to keep all the asking price. “I’ve been amazed at how well that’s done for us,” DaCosta enthuses.

The next step becomes spreading the word, and expanding the fan base. Locally, the band’s a regular feature at the Verve, slated next for a March 20 appearance. DaCosta also intends to organize an all-ages show, something he believes is severely lacking locally. Presently, “The Contrast” is on sale locally at Headstone Friends, as well as independent record shops “in virtually every town we play. We’ve done a pretty good job of getting those in there.” The band’s seeking additional local vendors.

Cuba also aims to acquire a booking agent, intending to play bigger shows. “There’s really absolutely no reason that we shouldn’t be playing to crowds bigger than 20 people,” Coffey contends. They’ve already accrued a substantial following throughout the Midwest, including a show opening for In The Headlights at Broad Ripple, near Indianapolis, they remember most for the unusual fans — a cadre of porn queens — the main attraction brought out in its wake. “One of our friends kept telling us who they all were,” DaCosta recalls, laughing at the memory. “We didn’t know whether to laugh or not that he knew all their names. It was funny, but also kinda sad.”

Cuba’s music can be accessed at www.cubatheband.com