The Silent Ballet Wiki

Home

Recent Changes

Index (Show)

Unwed Sailor

Biography

Born in Seattle in 1998 at the tender age of intent, Unwed Sailor is helmed by Oklahoma-born songwriter Johnathon Ford. The basis for the instrumental project came into being while Ford was still writing with Seattle luminaries Roadside Monument. Pulling towards a bass guitar-oriented sound, the songs he had begun to craft did not fully feel right for Roadside Monument, thus the unbeknownst predestined forming of Unwed Sailor. Not aiming for Unwed Sailor to fall into the regular confines of a typical band, Ford's ever evolving cast and crew has been tirelessly composed over the years of good friends and company. The band has since been relocated and based out of cities across the United States, including Chicago, Seattle, Washington D.C., Jackson MS, Little Rock, AR, and most recently Lawrence, KS. With over 14 US tours and four in Europe, the band has traveled almost as much as it has evolved.

From their 1998 debut ep release, Firecracker, to their 2001 full length release The Faithful Anchor, the band strived to create side door studies into the pictures behind sound, while opening multiple avenues in the creation of reflective, legitimate, sometimes instrumental music. In 2002, these studies also produced two short film soundtracks for independent film maker Chris Bennett - Stateless (a musical collaboration with Early Day Miners), and For Jonathan, a multi-genre compilation featuring artists as varied as The Album Leaf and Mikael Jorgensen to Jessica Bailiff and Her Space Holiday.

In 2003, the shape of Unwed Sailor changed dramatically as the sound became less a standard suite of songs, developing instead into a growing creature, cinematically-operated and tell-tale both in its sonic and packaged presentation. The resulting album was recorded and released as The Marionette and the Music Box; music set to tell the painted "story-book" story of a lonely little marionette in search of a cherished, lost music box. Describing the picturesque brushes and swells of a rather unique orchestra, Unwed Sailor composed pieces as suited for concert halls as they are the hot, impassioned stages of dark night clubs from city to city. As a live performance, the music is only more chaotic in its finely-tuned restraints. Here audiences are treated to a powerful performance, played out as though on the screen; they walk away from the shows as though from a theater, excited and curious about the world again. On stage, Unwed Sailor as people melt away, becoming nobody and everybody at the same time; a two hearted octopus with every arm working twice as hard.

In 2006 the band has introduced two brand new recordings, the ambient EP "Circles", and the atmospheric and brooding full length "The White Ox". Unwed Sailor continues to tour throughout the end of 2006 and into 2007 travelling into the stretches of the lonesome, always stretching road.

-Taken from Unwed Sailor

Band Members
Jonathan Ford & Others

Discography
Firecracker (EP) [1999]
Faithful Anchor (Album) [2001]
Unwed Sailor/Toboggan (Split) [2002]
The Marionette and the Music Box (Album) [2003]
Circles (EP) [2006]
The White Ox (Album) [2006]
Little Wars (Album) [2007]

Tour Dates

Aug 12 2007

8:00P

Old City Java

Knoxville, Tennessee

Aug 13 2007

8:00P

The Boot

Norfolk, Virginia

Aug 14 2007

6:00P

Jammin Java w/ Manchester Orchestra & Colour Revolt

Vienna, Virginia