LP Limited Edition: 250 sea blue vinyl LP pressed via Pirates Press.
Remixed by Steven Kennedy.
1. Creator 2. Goddess 3. Slowfire 4. The Nation 5. So Close to Over 6. Zzyzx
Total run time: 36:34
Sciflyer was on an upward trajectory in the mid-2000s - a critically acclaimed (and CMJ Top 200) debut in 2003, a whirlwind US tour behind it and then another critic’s choice with their followup EP in 2005...and then SXSW in 2006. Things were moving along... That same year, they went into a real 24-track professional studio for the first time in their career (instead of recording mostly at home or partially in friends’ “studios”) to start work on their magnum opus, They Only Believe In The Moon. Some tracks were recorded with then drummer, Scott Christy, but when he left mid-sessions in late ‘06, they were joined by former LSD & The Search For God drummer, Scott Eberhardt, and completed the rest of the recordings in early 2007.
Anyone familiar with the story to this point knows that’s when they started losing altitude. Personal issues between (then married couple) Steven Kennedy and founding member/bassist, Kim Oberly...and then the Great Recession. The band canceled a planned Pacific Northwest tour, took the summer of ‘07 off, and tried to pull it together for some rehearsals with Eberhardt near the end of the year. They actually lasted into early 2008, but the strains were too much and too many, and they officially called it quits before the Spring. The album was officially shelved as well. The master tapes sat in storage, unmixed...tails out, of course.
Fast forward to 2014 as the shoegaze revival was starting up. Kennedy says the unfinished production gnawed gently at him for the seven years in between, but it was the revival that put a finer point on it, so he finally took a headfirst dive into the tracks for the first time since abandoning them in 2008. The album was completed and released by Clairecords in 2014 on CD and digital only.
Even after being MIA for seven years, the album garnered rave reviews from Big Takeover, Dagger, Somewhere Cold, TBTCI, and others! Since then, however, ever the perfectionist, Kennedy always felt the mix could’ve been much better - “I hadn’t mixed anything since The Age of Lovely Intimate Things (2005), so my ears were almost a decade out of practice. Plus the Moon tapes had been transferred to digital for mixing, and up til then I’d always mixed analog, so there I was learning digital mixing on the fly. I was taking forever and didn’t wanna keep ‘em waiting another seven years, so eventually I settled on what I felt, at the time, was the best I could do...” Since then, having honed his digital mixing skills preparing the Energizer EP (Clairecords, 2015), the expanded remastered reissue of The Age of Lovely Intimate Things (Elephant Stone, 2016), and the all new comeback album, The Illusion of Unlimited Choice (Darla, 2020), he was ready to take a new look at They Only Believe In The Moon.
The results are undeniable. The songs have a newfound presence absent from the original release - the stereo field is wider, there’s more clarity and definition on each instrument without sacrificing any of the haze, and the vocals are more spacious and distinguishable while still hewing close to their trademark hush. It’s a truly remarkable difference! Like a whole new listening experience! This remixed, remastered, re-imagined reissue also marks the first time the album is available on vinyl! With a limited first edition run of 250 copies on translucent sea-blue, this is sure to be an instant fan favorite, a future cult classic, and maybe even a collector’s item!
“Named after the smoking hot opener from Swervedriver’s immortal debut Raise, Northern California’s Sciflyer delivered in spades on multiple releases earlier last decade before calling it quits in 2008. They Only Believe In The Moon is a case of what could have been – a lost album culled from sessions that were completed in 2007. It’s a blessing that this record has finally seen the light of day because it’s downright monstrous. Turn up the volume, pop on your headphones and let the heavy guitar fuzz work its magic. Fans of Swervedriver and classic SST (especially Dinosaur, Jr. and Hüsker Dü) will eat this up.
"Rumor has it Sciflyer may play some reunion shows. Let’s hope they do.” — BIG TAKEOVER
“These six big, slow-burning songs are evocative of many of the 1990’s indie-rock giants. There are vocals somewhere in there, buried and reverbed to ensure your mind is roasted in maximum textural absorption. Most songs here flame as fiery as the sun in sizzling repetition, but the somewhat Slowdivey cold star “Slowfire” is the best burner of the bunch. Something of a lost album recorded almost a decade ago, it’s good news Sciflyer found a way to release it. For fans of the noisier indie rockers and rawer shoegazers of yesteryear, this will be total comfort music.” ” — SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT
“There’s something modest in Sciflyer’s album, as if they play purely for themselves - I love it.” — AUDIO CAMP
“The band seems completely locked in to each other’s every move. On each listen the record has grown on me more and more.” — DAGGER
“Numbing, noisy and giant. A great little masterpiece.” — THE BLOG THAT CELEBRATES ITSELF
“A truly epic album!” — PRIMAL MUSIC BLOG
“This album is decidedly uncommercial and unrelenting.” — BABY SUE
