Most Resident Patient fans find the band difficult to describe. Veined with rock, Electronica, folk and jazz, this band creates a unique sound that is memorable yet sophisticated. Aside from the flavor of the songs themselves, a Resident Patient show tends to be an interesting visual and sonic experience. With a voracious appetite for improvisation, and a wide array of unique instruments, Resident Patient delivers a performance that often surprises even its most loyal fans.
“Our work is very heavily electronic,” says songwriter and band member Eric W. Harris. “A lot of people think that precludes improvisation and invention, in short, that it has no soul. I find it to be just the opposite, the precision of the electronics reveal, in sharp relief, what is delicate and unavoidably human in our music.”Resident Patient formed in early 2007 as a collaborative effort between songwriters Harris, Tiffany Griffin and Kyle Lapointe. Originally an experimental side project for everyone involved, Resident Patient has in the last year come to dominate all the members’ musical lives. The band takes its name from an Arthur Conan Doyle story “The Mystery of the Resident Patient.” Though it is only a name, this can be said to be indicative of the spirit of this ensemble. The wide divergence of styles and forms the band takes on can be interpreted as a kind of perpetual musical inquiry, the subject of which varies from piece to piece.
A better way to describe this might be that each tune is a marked and measured exploration into a different sonic space. Often these explorations fit neatly into genre categories, often they do not.
They have performed at the famed Caledonia Lounge, Little Kings Shuffle Club, The Soul Bar and live on NPR station WUGA. The ensemble is currently recording its debut album, tentatively titled “Elevator in the Brain Hotel” and should have this completed around January 2009.
Somewhat seasoned veterans of the Athens, music scene, Resident Patient is also beginning to extend its travel radius and hopes to book a tour in support of its upcoming release. As an addition to its increasing schedule, with the aid of musician/ artist Joshua Murray and artist Kate Lloyd, the band hopes to complete a visual accompaniment to its live show: “The Resident Patient Creep Show…in 3D.
Band membersEric W. Harris ó vocals, guitar, synth, sequencers, tape machines;
Tiffany Griffin ó piano, auxiliary keyboards, vocals;
Kyle Lapointe ó bass, bent SK1, optical theremin.
Band profiles and music are available at www.resident patient.jimdo.com and at www.myspace.com/resident patient.
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Resident Patient will be featured at 3 p.m. this Saturday in a performance in Rail Walk, at 407 N. Lee St., as part of the Looking Glass Artist Collective Preview show.