The Quavers

Brooklyn duo The Quavers are T. Griffin and Catherine McRae with frequent collaboators Dennis Cronin and Bruce Cawdron. They coax a luminous sound out of decayed samplers, walkmans, vibraphonette, footpedal loopers, tape echo violin and homespun harmonies. Like a space-age Carter Family, they weave low-tech electronics around songs sturdy enough to stand up even if the power goes out. They call it "porch techno".

In 1995 T. Griffin and Catherine McRae played one 40 minute set at Minneapolis' Uptown Bar. Afterwards Catherine went back to college and Griffin moved to New York to pursue an acting career.

In 1999 T. Griffin recorded Tortuga, on a cassette 4-track and a powermac 7600. On New Years day, 2000 he ran into McRae on 9th street and Avenue A. She began joining him every once in a while for his New York shows and played some violin on 2001's Light In The Aisles.

By 2002 they had begun working out an increasingly intricate live show based around guitar, violin, footpedal loopers and two dr. samples. The Sea Won't Take Long, was recorded in a basement down by Brooklyn's Gowanus canal that had served as a flophouse for Latvian sailors. It was released under the moniker T. Griffin Coraline, and Griffin and McRae toured extensively, crossing the US and playing in Europe and The UK, including shows backing Patti Smith and Tom Verlaine. This was their first recording featuring Montreal-based drummer and mallet player Bruce Cawdron.

They also began playing regularly with multi-instrumentalist Dennis Cronin, who initially joined them with the caveat that he wouldn't play any instrument larger than a cat. After a year playing trumpet, melodica and lap-steel, however, he was convinced to begin bringing his vibraphonette to shows.

Lit By Your Phone was developed during the long, ramshackle tour for The Sea Won't Take Long and recorded using only the gear they took with them in the car. It represents their arrival as an inextricable unit, with McRae contributing heavily to the arrangement and recording and singing lead on two songs. To reinforce their functioning as a band, they took a name. The Quavers suggested something electric, unsteady and dog-eared and perfectly captures the sound they conjure from that trunk full of dusty samplers and weathered acoustic instruments.

In 2009 they are staying close to home after the birth of McRae's daughter and will be recording a new record to be released in 2010.

Griffin and McRae have collaborated frequently with filmmaker Jem Cohen on live and recorded soundtrack projects including the Ghent Fusebox Festival and the Vienale's Empires of Tin. They have also worked with the animator Brent Green, and the theater directors Anne Bogart and Richard Maxwell. In 2007 they created and performed a live soundtrack for the films the late Danny Williams shot at Warhol's Factory in the 1960's which continues to tour internationally, with Guy Picciotto filling in for McRae during her maternity leave.

Also a prolific film composer, Griffin has scored 10 feature films as well as dozens of shorts and theater projects, many of which feature contributions from McRae, Cronin and Cawdron. He is a 2008 Composer's Lab fellow at the Sundance Institute.

Discography

T. Griffin - A Walk Into The Sea: Original Soundtrack - Shiny Little Records (2008)

The Quavers - Lit By Your Phone - Shiny Little Records (2007)

T. Griffin Coraline - The Sea Won't Take Long - Shiny Little Records (2004)

T. Griffin - Light in the Aisles - Shiny Little Records (2001)

T. Griffin - Tortuga - Shiny Little Records (2000)