Jake Mann & the Upper Hand to tour

JAKE MANN AND THE UPPER HAND--ON THE ROAD, PERHAPS NEAR YOU.
01.05.11 – Santa Cruz, CA @ the Crepe Place
01.06.11 – Los Angeles, CA @ RFSL Presents
01.07.11 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Muddy Waters
01.08.11 – San Diego, CA @ Tin Can
01.09.11 – Los Osos, CA @ Silver Springs Saloon
01.13.11 – Sacramento, CA @ Crocker Art Museum
01.21.11 – Modesto, CA @ Deva Cafe
01.22.11 – Davis, CA @ Armadillo Records (in-store)
01.22.11 – Davis, CA @ Delta Of Venus
01.23.11 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill – Record Release Party!!

ABOUT JAKE MANN AND THE UPPER HAND:
Jake Mann authors rock songs imbued with the archetypal dustbowl patina of a Steinbeck story, delivering lyrical and melodic snapshots on powerful hooks—classic themes artfully played out in kitchens, in living rooms, in dusty California, in places with cacti and freeways. Parallel South, Mann's follow-up to 2007's Daytime Ghost, is rife with desolation—people drifting, landscapes moved through—listening becomes sometimes voyeuristic, like what's happening should be private and unrepeated. But, it's too loud to be private and too native to the classic pop tradition to not be played over and over again.

That's the thing about Mann's songwriting—it tells his stories of moody isolation and the hope that lies beyond destructive, worn-out situations. Through the prism of the most treasured aspects of that familiarly understood song language, it gets you, hits you right where you understand, with riffs and bridges built over swirling percussive waters. People cite greats whose greatness comes in painting sounds from that hazy western light - Pavement, Kelley Stoltz, Neil Young, the blown-out scenes of Wayne Thiebaud—theirs is the pathway Mann travels alongside on his Parallel South journey.

Maybe it's all those days Mann spent riding his bike north of the Golden Gate that got under the skin of the record, rendering it with the pulse of a fast decent and the cinematic view of countryside rolling by. It's that continued movement, that taking it all in just a bit faster than your mind can deal with, that yields the impressionistic collage of sunshine and longing on Parallel South.

Mann rose as a songwriter in the microcosmic Davis, California scene in the early aughts, forming flatland-pop outfit The Zim-Zims in 2002 to bring his 4-track recordings to the live stage. He released his first s/t full-length in 2003, followed it with 2004's Go Where You Are EP and 2005's Solo Electric EP. After relocating to San Francisco and touring on Daytime Ghost, Mann entered a new phase - with his five-piece group dissolved, drummer Dan Baber and guitarist Aaron Bellamy came together to form The Upper Hand (with Jake returning to his go-to instrument, bass) and he embraced a more sober way of living, aimed at some brighter tones.

Recording for Parallel South commenced after the release of 2008's Demos + Remixes EP when producer / engineer Max Hart brought his mobile recording rig to the trio's garage rehearsal space. The bass amp was isolated inside a car (fitting for the low-end that permeates the album's forward thrust), while, instead of being created in solitude, the songs were brought to fruition through a more collaborative recording process than on previous efforts. The album's spacious feel was accentuated when additional tracks were recorded in an abandoned WWII-era theater using only two mics to capture the room's ambience. The sessions resulted in an abundance of songs, so tunes not destined for the finished LP were housed on 2009's Valdez EP. In 2010, Parallel South was mixed by Bryce Gonzales at The Hangar in Sacramento and Max Hart in Brooklyn.

By the closing moments of the album's reprise, Mann leaves the listener sitting on a beach, washed over with radio noise and seagull calls, looking back at a trip through landscapes real and imagined, memories gilded and faded. What's left is the spacious feel of possibility; of forward motion.

Look for Mann as he and The Upper Hand tour in support of Parallel South in 2011.