Bolinas

Bolinas is the bedroom pop turned heavy project of singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Chris Thomas. In 2012, in search of greener pastures on the US Western Coast, the Kansas City native packed the entirety of his belongings into his Volkswagen and departed for Seattle, WA. While making his way across the northern states, his vehicle catastrophically burst into flames – the same Volkswagen seen burning on the side of the road in the Heavy Easy LIstening album artwork. Thomas, escaping with only a camera, documented a raging inferno fueled by his possessions, before being stranded in the Badlands of South Dakota. Nevertheless, he continued on to the Pacific NW with a shaken, but persisting resolve.

When asked about the mix of sonic influences of Bolinas and his musical background playing in bands around Kansas City, Thomas writes: “We were so close to Lawrence KS & Omaha, so their influence on me was massive. 90’s alt-rock of Shiner, post-rock/space rock of The Appleseed Cast & HUM, quintessential emo of The Get Up Kids, Raw post-punk of Cursive, & psych-folk of Bright Eyes; really taught me about music and helped me craft a style. While I was sort of a fan of the screamo of the early 2000s, it never really influenced my music in a big way. All of my former bands were usually the “softest” on the bill and relied on post-rock crescendos rather than hardcore breakdowns. I never really felt like I had a place in the music scene in those years.”

That unique blend of influences reflects itself in the sound of Heavy Easy Listening, with guitar tones that crash with the heaviness and distortion of bands like Nothing, DIIV, and Greet Death, while undergirding those textures with dynamic rhythms and emo-pop melodies that pull influence from artists like Jimmy Eat World, Swirlies, and Cursive. For a while, Thomas felt like his sound was “not quite “emo”, too wordy for shoegaze, too heavy to be pop”, but the new album shows him settling into a sweet spot that should appeal to fans of heavier shoegaze as much as it appeals to fans of lighter indie rock and dream pop.

The lineup of musicians on Heavy Easy Listening includes Ian Dobyns of Dreamgirl (drums, additional guitars /vox), Joey Anderson of Hunny (drums), Mark Penechar (Guitars, vox) Shaun Penechar (bass), and Chris Thomas on lead vocals, guitar, and synths.

It has been a long and winding road from that horrible setback in 2012 to finally releasing his first full album as Bolinas, with plenty more personal struggles along the way, but that burning car on the album cover has become a symbol of strength and resilience for Chris over time. As he puts it: “I hope that people can listen to these musical anecdotes of how much of a fuck up I can be, uneasy to be around, and lonely I have been; and realize that you can always come back from it. A monument to accepting & forgiving yourself and others for being human.”