Tyler Stone of Sutro Talks Latest Album Release and Grammys

It’s not EDM, it’s organic instrumentation converging with the electronic music world, and it’s meant to engage your mind as much as your body.

Tyler Stone, lead singer for the now Portland based band, Sutro, visited me during Music Monday on PRP to talk about Sutro’s first full length album release, Broken Distance — She even let us debut songs from the new album! The album is “part live band drive – part DJ sensibility,” according to the band’s website.

Broken Distance, produced by Joe Chicarelli, highlights the bands musical sensibilities in an electronic world. They are four people (Jesse Gay, Keenan Wayne, Patrick Hinds, and Tyler Stone) with unique backgrounds and musical tastes who come together and make room for each song to breathe and expand, drawing the listeners in ever so gently. The album title was partially inspired by the band’s multi-regional locations, with most of the members finding themselves in Portland, leaving bass player Keenan Wayne “holding down the fort,” in San Francisco, as Tyler puts it.

Photo Credit: Jason Locken

Even as the band recorded this full length record with legendary producer Joe Chicarelli, they often were never in the same place at the same time. A true testament to the beauty of an age where technology can unite us all over the world.

Tyler Stone is a veteran electronic music remixer and producer, having cut her teeth at 3rd Floor Productions in San Francisco. She shared details about the early days of mixing and creating electronic music with “cutting edge” software, requiring an expansive knowledge of MIDI, and a whole lot of time dedicated to programming and sequencing. She recalled having to play a variety of notes on a digital keyboard until you found the unique sound you wanted, creating a lot of “oops” moments that became integral parts of the songs they created. In todays world, the archaic software, which left room for more human performance discoveries, has been updated and is highly automated, making it much easier to create more music quickly, but also making it more robotic — not necessarily a bad thing, as Tyler expressed.

Tyler is also a chapter governor for the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Recording Academy (Grammys), and chatted with me about how it is that Beck won the coveted Album Of The Year.

Sutro’s album, Broken Distance, is available now, worldwide on iTunes and more. I highly recommend this album, whether you like electronic music or not. Make sure to follow them on Instagram (@sutromusic) to see a special presentation for the album’s artwork. And of course, find out more about Sutro here: SUTRO

Enjoy, and as always, Listen With Your Heart.

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Amber Sweeney

Amber Sweeney is a northwest artist who listens with her heart. She is a passionate performer and songwriter, with a powerful and soulful voice. Catch her interviewing PDX artists, and hosting Music Monday's on PRP every Monday from 1-5pm on www.prp.fm