Lilac Shadows Album Release Party at The Carrack Modern Arts Exhibit

By: Buddy Ruski

The marriage between artists will stand the test of time.

“Til death do us part…”

Musicians and visual artists share the same strand of creative genius. The two have grown out of the underground and blossomed into powerful forces in Pop Culture. You would be hard pressed to find a Jay-Z track these days that does not name drop renowned Haitian-American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, who subsequently had a tremendous influence on musicians like Jay-Z and his contemporaries in the early 90’s.

Durham is widely recognized for our multifaceted Arts’ culture. Established contributors like DURTY DURHAM and Liberty Arts house some of the area’s most prolific creators, consistently blurring the lines between mediums.

This Saturday, February 8th, 2014 at 9pm, The Carrack, a unique zero commission art gallery, will play host to Durham/Raleigh band Lilac Shadows, as well as Midnight Plus One & Matt Northrup, as Lilac Shadows releases their newest LP, No Dark/No Light. The Carrack is no stranger to providing space to artists, nor to having two mediums exhibiting simultaneously, having blended dance, live music, painting, sculpture, film, spoken word poetry and more in a little over three years.

Lilac Shadows is looking forward to blurring those lines. “I like cross-pollinating,” says Reed Benjamin, one of the four band members who believes his creativity benefits greatly from other artistic influences outside of music.

No Dark/No Light comes after a few different EPs, remixes, and band members. The current roster includes Reed Benjamin, Sam Logan, Nathan Price, and Brian Corum. Each member is a piece to a puzzle formed from bands such as Tow3rs (Logan), The Lollipops (Price),  have all contributed to the songwriting and producing of the record. Logan understands the landscape has changed in music, and being independently sustainable is commonplace. “Money is not as accessible in music these days,” a notion many other artists can relate to, “It’s more of a necessity than anything.” The DIY attitude towards music performance was inspired by groups like Deerhunter, who played a secret show at The Carrack last April.

The idea for doing a collaborative show was one that Price, who also works as Talent Coordinator for the Hopscotch Music festival, was sitting on for some time. “Nathan is just an insane incubator of ideas,” says Logan. The exhibit includes 20 artists mutually inspired by the music. The entire exhibit will run from February 4th to February 15th with art from all mediums including photographs, paint, and textiles, and will highlight the layers of creativity that make Durham a thriving scene for artistic innovation.

Check out Lilac Shadows on Soundcloud here.

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Columnist, Justin Laidlaw, aka Buddy Ruski, is a renaissance man. His interests range from the music business to politics, from Durham’s history and culture to the world beyond. The co-host of the Clarion Content’s podcast, he is fast becoming a veteran columnist. He is a thinker, a fashion model, a networker, a business manager and more.

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Aaron Mandel

Editor in Chief at Clarion Content

Aaron Mandel is a writer and an accomplished public speaker. He is the editor and publisher of the Clarion Content, a multimedia and consulting company. For more than five years, the Clarion Content’s media arm, under Mandel’s direction, has covered Durham’s arts, politics, music, and cultural milieu. From breaking news stories to the hottest local acts, the Clarion Content is on the scene.

Mandel has been published in the Raleigh News and Observer, produced numerous art shows, and was recently a featured speaker at “The State of Publishing” conference held in Durham, NC.