Airborne Toxic Event’s New Release -- KCRW Album Preview

L.A. radio station KRCW is featuring the sophomore release from Airborne Toxic Event as part of their Album Preview series. It makes for an easy publicity stunt for this heavily favored local band in a burgeoning music scene. The band hit the scene with their epic anthem, “Sometime Around Midnight” in 2008, about an impassioned plea to an ex-lover. The mix of indie rock and orchestral arrangements lends a grandeur to this quintet fronted by Mikel Jollett’s vocals. Their self-titled release will be supplemented by the new collection of songs due out April 26. All at Once begins with the rollicking drums of “All at Once” before “Numb” brings in sweet call back vocals by Anna Bulbrook. The third track is the single, “Changing”, which is already receiving heavy airplay and rightly so. It has the makings of a hit from the opening hand claps to the sing along chorus. The artsy video directed by Jan Danovic begins with “Sometime Around Midnight” on a car radio, then shows the band playing live with accompanying moves by L.A.-based dance crew, Strikers All-Stars, known for their community outreach (see below). The next acoustic entry, “All for a Woman”, gets bogged down by the simplistic lyrics:  “Promising Everything to Everyone… You’re my favorite one.” But the band gets its groove back until another, more subtle acoustic ending with “The Graveyard Near the House”.

[Listen to KRCW show]