THE RED BUTTON
CREATING MORE PURE POP, SUPREMELY SINGABLE DELIGHTS “THE WAY GOD AND PAUL MCCARTNEY MUST HAVE INTENDED,” THE L.A. BASED DUO RETURN WITH THEIR LONG-AWAITED SECOND ALBUM, ‘AS FAR AS YESTERDAY GOES’
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‘She’s About To Cross My Mind’, Seth Swirsky and Mike Ruekberg’s First Red Button Recording, Was Ranked ‘Top of the Pops – Overall Best of 2007’ By VillageRecords.com and Ranked #1 (Out of 125) By Influential Pop Site Absolute Powerpop
It would take a spacious Ferry Cross the Mersey to carry all the accolades heaped upon She’s About To Cross My Mind, the critically acclaimed 2007 debut album by Seth Swirsky and Mike Ruekberg, doing their magical, musical business as the L.A. based pure pop duo, The Red Button (www.theredbutton.net).
The opening track “Cruel Girl” charted #1 in Billboard as the “Coolest Song in the World This Week” on Little Steven’s Underground Garage Radio Show. The tune was also chosen to be on the Wicked Cool Records collection The Coolest Songs in the World, Volume 4.
There’s plenty more of that refreshingly retro goodness on As Far As Yesterday Goes, The Red Button’s highly anticipated follow-up album (slated for a fittingly-first–day-of–summer June 21 release) with 12 songs that allow the listener to stay grounded in 2011 while floating off on a dreamy cloud kept aloft by bursts of ‘60s and ‘70s inspired sunshine. Autographed copies of the new album can be pre-ordered on www.theredbutton.net.
Driven by the stirring musical chemistry of Swirsky’s romantic optimism offset by Ruekberg’s tart sense of realism, As Far As Yesterday Goes features delightful melodies, harmonies and production textures that sound as if they could have been transported directly from the magical era when AM radio was king.
Stylistically, the new collection expands beyond the strictly mid-‘60s Beatlesque vibe of She’s About To Cross My Mind to embrace what Ruekberg, the album’s producer, calls the “golden age of singer/songwriter-driven pop/rock.” He says with a grin, ”This time we’ve leapt boldly into the ‘70s!”
The first Red Button album was very much reminiscent of the music being made in the early ‘60s. This time, we took a looser approach writing and production-wise and expanded our sonic palette a bit. We’re really proud of She’s About To Cross My Mind, but to me, there’s more of the real ‘us’ on As Far As Yesterday Goes. Seth and I sometimes joke that my role is to take Seth’s sense of dreaminess and nail its toes to the ground. I think that contrast between the cheerful melodies and the more world-weary lyrics is what makes The Red Button unique.”
Swirsky loves the rub that comes from having catchy melodies that inspire people to sing immediately, “before they realize that there’s a dark and light thing happening.” If he had to pick a favorite song on As Far As Yesterday Goes, it would be “Picture” because of the tension between its bouncy melody and its melancholy nature.
“I like the fact that not everything is just happy and perfect all the time,” Swirsky says, “because that’s real life. Mike and I are two songwriters who truly come out of the concise and melodic three minute pop song tradition, writing songs that are not old at all but which inspire the same type of warm feelings as songs of that era did. We’re of the lineage of that time, simply trying to continue songs in that tradition because it’s the kind of music that we both personally love the most!
As Far As Yesterday Goes seems primed to continue the commercial success and critical acclaim received by She’s About To Cross My Mind. In a year-end 2007 poll of the top pop records of the year, She’s About to Cross My Mind was ranked #1 (out of 125) by Absolute Powerpop. Pop Journalist and International Pop Overthrow founder David Bash ranked the album #8 (out of 125) in his influential year-end list. The collection was also named the #2 Best CD of 2007 by a Powerpopaholic Reader’s Poll, and Audities ranked The Red Button album 2nd best pop album of the year in their 2007 year-end poll.
Songs from the album have been featured on XM The Loft’s “In Spite Of All The Danger” program, Sirius Radio’s Idiot’s Delight with Vin Scelsa as well as radio stations around the world. The band was featured in the Los Angeles Times as a Buzz Band in August 2007; journalist Kevin Bronson wrote: “The Red Button presses all the right buttons for fans of pure pop.”
Between Red Button projects, Swirsky, whose pop songwriting credits include hits for Celine Dion, Tina Turner, Al Green and Taylor Dayne, released his second solo album Watercolor Day, in 2010. Its title song won Best Pop Song of the Year at the Hollywood Music In Media Awards (HMMA). Goldmine Magazine called it “The first great power pop record of 2010” and ranked it #4 in their year-end poll. Currently, his hit documentary “Beatles Stories” is playing in film festivals worldwide.
“I’ve had a unique and varied career as a songwriter and recording artist,” Swirsky says, “but the first album by The Red Button was the one I got the most emails about. I think what Mike and I have tapped into here is the simple fact that human beings love to sing, and to our ears there just aren’t as many songs these days that are so purely singable as there were in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Our goal with both albums was to simply make sure that every passage, every melodic phrase, every line, makes you want to sing.”
