St. Van Cortlandt & the 101 was created by singer/songwriter Daniel Van Cortlandt as a vehicle to explore computer recording techniques, home-made instruments, atypical song structures, and unique lyrical ideas. Though the roots of this exploratory process went as far back as 4-track tape and high-school uniforms, it wasn’t until Van Cortlandt migrated from Cali to NY that the hard work bore fruit in the form of a full-length debut of lush and layered indie-rock.
As the band’s lineup gradually came together, the sound of St. Van Cortlandt & the 101 developed beyond concise songs draped in experimental sound design into more colorful, grandiose, improvisatory rock’n’roll. Troy Fannin (lead guitar/backup vocals), Marcel Hamel (bass), Matthew Watanabe (keyboard), and Dave LeBlanc (drums) all bring their own unique musical color to the palate, all the while committing to the same methodical craftsmanship that Daniel Van Cortlandt started with.
Conceived appropriately in a hospital bed as Van Cortlandt recovered from a broken jaw, their latest release, The Lion Tree, emerges as an epic concept EP about the bonds of blood and family. Since the singer’s gradual recovery from that traumatic incident, the band has been cutting their teeth all around NY at venues like Rockwood Music Hall, Pianos, The Bitter End, Spike Hill, and Arlene’s Grocery. Through a lot of hard work and a recently successful KickStarter campaign, St. Van Cortlandt & the 101 is proud to be releasing The Lion Tree alongside their first video for the raucous lead single “Like the Arrow, Miss the Stone.”
