Place We Ran from

Place We Ran from

Tired Pony, spearheaded by Snow Patrol s Gary Lightbody, is a collaborative project<br>featuring the talents of R.E.M. s Peter Buck, Belle and Sebastian s Richard Colburn, and<br>more, in addition to guest turns by She & Him s Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, Editors <br>Tom Smith and more.<br>Tired Pony began as a sketch in Gary Lightbody s imagination. During the idle moments on<br>Snow Patrol s year-long tour for their acclaimed album A Hundred Million Suns, Gary began<br>writing songs for an imaginary band. Upon the tour s completion, he decamped to Portland,<br>Oregon s Type Foundry studio, inviting along Troy Stewart, a regular touring member of<br>Snow Patrol; Iain Archer, a longtime Snow Patrol collaborator; Richard Colburn, Belle & Sebastian s<br>drummer and former collaborator with Lightbody in Reindeer Section; and producer<br>Garret Jacknife Lee (U2, Bloc Party), who helped to recruit Tired Pony s final two members:<br>Peter Buck from R.E.M. and Scott McCaughey, R.E.M. s full-time auxiliary member since 1994.<br>Inspired by his love of Wilco, Calexico and more, Gary set out to make what could be called an<br>American gothic album, a country-tinged gem that looked at the darkness of America. I wanted<br>to write a twisted love-letter to the States, is his way of explaining it, and oh, what a letter it is.<br>Instituting a no more than two takes rule, the album was made quickly, with the entire<br>recording session lasting only a week. At the end of it all, the players felt so close and so connected,<br>they decided to take Tired Pony out of the studio and into the world. As Peter Buck<br>puts it, It certainly felt at the end of the week like it was a band, and that this was a good place<br>to start. It would be crazy not to pursue this. <br>A record of real resonance and cohesion. It s the best work Lightbody has done; Peter Buck<br>hasn t been near anything this affecting in many a year either.