Federale - Reverb and Seduction

Portland's iconic outfit Federale present their sixth studio album 'Reverb & Seduction' album, out July 12 via Jealous Butcher Records.  Led by Collin Hegna, Federale marks 20 years with this release. A member of The Brian Jonestown Massacre for equally as long, Hegna has been party to a lot of feedback & fuzzed out guitars in his time.

'Reverb & Seduction' is a 10-track tour-de-force road trip from psych rock to country duets, never straying too far from the spaghetti western roots that inspired the band many blood-moons ago. What began as an homage to those cinematic soundscapes of the Italian 60s has evolved well past those not-so-humble beginnings. Today's Federale draws from inspirations as wide ranging as Depeche Mode, Nick Cave, Lee Hazlewood and also, naturally, BJM.

The throughline in all these influences is a penchant for the darkly romantic. Our narrator guiding us through these stories delivers the news in deep baritone reflecting the gravitas of the song’s arrangements. Distorted guitars, mellotrons and 70s inspired string arrangements sit side by side with driving drum patterns and moaning pedal steel. This goat's head alphabet soup of inspirations mingles to create a sum stranger than the whole of its parts. A siren calls us in the night towards certain destruction, but its song is so beautiful we cannot resist.  

These musical homages involve a lineup of well-known Portland rock-scene vets, including talents from The Dandy Warhols, The Shivas, Roselit Bone, Rogue Wave and Delines.  Members of The Black Angels, Jenny Don’t & The Spurs, Mission Spotlight and Courtney Barnett's band also contribute, as well as Grammy nominee Hunter Lea (Nancy Sinatra / Lee Hazlewood reissue producer) and Andrew Joslyn (Nancy Wilson, Kei$ha, Macklemore, Mark Lanegan),

“This album to me represents the culmination of 20 years of sonic exploration. With each record I’ve allowed a few more genres and musical influences into the playground. And with this, our 6th full length, I wanted to see how well they all played together at once. I was curious what happened when you crossed 80s deathrock with 70s folk balladeer stylings. Or 60s acid jams with string laden country crooning. It turns out it works pretty well,” says Collin Hegna.

"Before, I'd have an idea and think, 'Well, that can't be a Federale song', because it had distorted guitars or whatever. But then I thought, 'Well, why not?'" 

Recorded at Revolver Studios in Portland, this album was engineered by Collin Hegna, Matt Thomson and Andrew Joslyn, who boasts five 5 Grammy Award winning albums. Mixed by Hegna with Jeff Stuart Saltzman (The Black Keys, The High Violets) and Matt Thomson, it was mastered by Adam Gonsalves at Telegraph Mastering.

This openness to a broader palette of influences allows 'Reverb & Seduction' to veer into psychedelic and even gothic territory - think Love and Rockets or Sisters of Mercy - that the 2010s Federale might have considered off limits. For instance, the album's first single 'Heaven Forgive Me' draws on Goblin (the Italian prog-rockers who scored 'Suspiria') and a little Depeche Mode, and the 'No Strangers' is a sonic tribute to Lee Hazlewood, while the third single 'Advice From A Stranger' borrows the fuzz and feedback of DIG!-era BJM and The Electric Prunes. 

Beginning to color outside those Ennio Morricone lines, perhaps Hegna has finally decided to give his psych-rock alter ego a seat at the Federale table. For all these rumblings of change, 'Reverb & Seduction' is still very much a Federale record, and longtime fans will find plenty of the cinema-ready soundscapes they've come to expect. 

Federale has carved out a unique niche within the indie music landscape, blending their signature spaghetti-Western instrumental sound with increasing doses of moody vocal arrangements in the spirit of Lee Hazlewood and late-period Leonard Cohen. Through it all, Hegna – as both songwriter and lead singer – maintains a strictly retro vibe. Federale's records have always sounded period-correct for an alternate-universe 1971, where rock and roll never caught on.

The film industry continues to take notice as well: The band's latest licensing successes include placing tracks in the trailer for the Colin Farrell / Brendan Gleeson vehicle 'Banshees Of Inisherin', as well as in the Kate Hudson thriller 'Mona Lisa & The Blood Moon' and Swiss action/comedy 'Mad Heidi'.

As of July 12, 'Reverb & Seduction' album will be everywhere digitally, including Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and Bandcamp. It will also be released on CD and limited edition vinyl, available via the net and from fine record dealers.

Federale's 'Reverb & Seduction' tour, which takes them up and down the U.S. West coast and beyond, kicks off in Portland on July 12 with their album release show. A European tour is anticipated in late fall 2024.