Thayer Sarrano

"The new queen of shoegaze..." –(Americana UK, London)
"Thayer Sarrano is a beguiling Athens-based singer who casts an exquisite spell with her spare, ghostly songs that haunt the ears from a distance. Subtle, southern, lonesome and eerie, she clearly knows her way around heavy, drowsy reverb, bringing forth obvious comparisons to Mazzy Star and Chan Marshall. After spending most of her time as a supporting player with numerous Athens outfits, she's definitely gotten my attention…" (Stomp and Stammer, Atlanta, GA)
"Thayer's eclectic background is the main influence in her sound. She first heard music in the form of chanting in the monastery/seminary where she lived until school age. She took up classical piano at age 3, wrote solely instrumental pieces for years, and then later found guitar as a tool for writing songs with lyrics. Growing up in the small town of Jesup, in Southern Coastal Georgia, she was exposed to southern folk, blues, and gospel traditions, but was also isolated, finding church as her sole musical outlet. Though her music is not affiliated with any religion, she has always leaned toward the spiritual in art. Artists such as The Velvet Underground, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, and Leonard Cohen, would later become very important influences as well. While often compared to the Paisley Underground, or folk singers on the fringe in the 60’s, Thayer continues to forge a different path into the southern gothic with dissonant drones combined with painted lyrics dealing with concepts of light and dark, living and dying, and abstract visions often related to her artwork.
Thayer moved to Athens,GA to attend art school and was soon welcomed by the vibrant musical community, joining numerous bands as a keys, and later pedal steel player. You may have seen her play in of Montreal, Dead Confederate, T. Hardy Morris and the outfit, Kuroma, David Barbe and the Quickhooks, Matt Hudgins, Sunny100, Don Chambers + GOAT, Dave Marr, Jeremy Wheatley, and more, as well as her session work for Band of Horses, Bloodkin, Futurebirds, Hope for agoldensummer, Jim White, Lera Lynn, and many others.
Thayer began playing out under her own name, forming a band with a rotating cast derived from her other projects. She released her debut album, King, in 2009. King was engineered by Drew Vandenberg, recorded live in Thayer’s living room, and mixed/mastered at Chase Park Transduction in Athens, GA. Discs are in elaborate packaging with Thayer’s original artwork and include a 16 page booklet with lyrics over her paintings.“King's songs are emotional and vulnerable, melodic and entrancing…” (Flagpole Magazine).
The live band lends itself to sharing diverse bills, such as with The Whigs, TuneYards, Dead Confederate, Kuroma, Modern Skirts, Thao and the get down stay down, Five Eight, members of R.E.M. and the Drive by Truckers, and more. Thayer continues to play live shows frequently, as well as staying busy as a session player, composing instrumental music, scoring installations (Groninger Museum-Netherlands, Lowery Gallery-Athens, GA), and various compilations.
Her second LP, "Lift Your Eyes to the Hills," was just released (April, 2012), and includes the single "The Bend" featured in Groninger Museum, The Netherlands. Listeners will find Lift Your Eyes to the Hills to be a dramatic shift from the aesthetic of King, leaving the lap steel and minimal drums behind for a pitch bending vintage organ, sub bass, warm mellotron string arrangements, vocal and guitar layers, and full band sound—with sparse and experimental moments still shining throughout the 10 tracks. Thayer sights having old friends Hank Sullivant (Kuroma, X-Whigs/MGMT) and Drew Vandenberg on board, as a big part of the production of this record.
Thayer hopes for 2012 to be an exciting year in which she can raise support to tour behind Lift Your Eyes to the Hills, as well as complete her next record and other exciting musical and visual collaborations in the works. "